AFlowerOfContrast Year1 TheTuneOfThingsToCome
by LilyEvansPotter1
Summary: LilyEvans was a normal girl until she got her letter from Hogwarts. From then on her life was forever changed. By the end of her life she and others, will find what it means to know part of your life is already planned and the horrors that can live within
1. Come Morning

Summary: (I have to put the ORIGANAL in here due to stupid character limit thingy....--) Lily Evans had always had a fairly normal life style...that is until she received her letter for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Because this was the place she met Severus Snape, encountered many dangers, and where she is still trying to keep herself from being swallowed in darkness. Follow her as she lives out an emotional rollercoaster.  
  
Disclaimer: Oh yes I'm making more money than the Queen Of England because I own these characters! And I- ::gets bonked on the head waking her from her dream:: No I DO NOT own anything in this story except perhaps the plot!  
  
AN: This is rated PG right now, but that may change because 1.I don't trust myself to keep this PG, and 2. Things may get more intense as Lily and company get older.  
  
A Flower Of Contrast   
The morning sun beaming through the clouded windowpane seemed unwelcome and out of place. Yes it seemed lost or misplaced just as I seemed to feel at the moment. I was out of place in these dark surroundings.  
My eyes were not used to the sun drawing away from a window. And yet, I knew I belonged there, no matter how unsettling it looked. I knew, because he was there. Laying beside me with his dark hair in his face, making a contrast against his pale skin.  
The room was of a dark green that out of the light would be mistaken for black. Everything was of dark color, from the deep cherry furnishings, to the forbidding black curtains. There were only two things that seemed to be alight in the room, which were a small ivory music box and a ghostly white candle. But out of anything in this room I stood out the most.  
My gown, cream white, against the black sheets and covers made me feel like a drifting star, and my hair seemed like fire flowing around the emerald pillowcase.  
I shifted my position and gazed at the sleeping boy beside me. Looking at him I began to reminisce about my past. It seemed that this morning I would decide to stroll down memory lane. I closed my eyes as visions of, soon to be six years ago, appeared in my head.  
  
A young girl of merely eleven years, stumbled down the stairs to find a few pancakes waiting for her in the kitchen. She was the first of her sisters to awaken this morning, which for her meant a short time of peace and quiet.  
She sat down and started to eat her breakfast as a little bluebird began to chirp outside the window. She tried to pull her hair back from her face when a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes walked in the room.  
"Well Lily, you're up awfully early today aren't you?" she said while looking through the mail.  
"Well I thought I'd get up early so that I wouldn't have to eat breakfast with Petunia going on about how she 'needs' more makeup! I don't see why she thinks she needs more. Especially since, she probably already has more makeup than the ocean has water."  
Her mother chuckled and stopped as she came to a letter. "Hmmm...," she flipped over the letter, "Strange, there's no stamp"  
"Who's it for?" Lily stood up in her chair trying to get a better view  
"Well it's addressed to you Lily, but-," Lily cut her off by grabbing the letter out of her mother's hands.  
"Lilianna Cristina Nichol Evans!" her mother said exasperated. "Who told you that you could read that?" Lily looked up at her mother, smiled and began running up the stairs as she called out, "The people who sent it to me obviously. I mean, it does have my name on it." Lily jumped onto her bed as she looked at the letter.  
The envelope, she noticed, was made of what seemed to be parchment. She looked down at the address, which was written in green ink, and noticed that it too was strange as well. It was addressed to a Miss Evans. 1645 Running Walk Ct. Highest room in the house.  
Now she was really interested! She carefully slipped her nail under the crease and began to open the letter. She opened it to find the same handwriting in green ink on two similar sheets of paper, which she was by now sure was made of parchment, which read:  
  
Dear Miss Evans,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
Lily couldn't believe her eyes! Was this real? She excitedly ran down the stairs to show her mother this letter that might just take her away from everyday life.  
  
AN: Sorry guys. I know this chapter was short, but I wanted to go ahead and get something posted. They'll be longer in the future. So now that I'm done you know what to do. Just click that button and write what you think.   
  
Later Lils 


	2. Pests and Pets

Disclaimer: hey you guys guess what it's finally Chapter 2! Aren't you happy?? I Hope so! It was actually kind of fun to write! Anyway I'll turn it over to Lily now!  
  
Lily-::grumpily pokes head out of computer::  
  
Me-O did I not mention who was doing the disclaimer??  
  
Lily-NO!  
  
Me-Oh yes! That's right you get to do it my dear! Hee hee  
  
Lily-Grrrr I hate you!  
  
Me- Aw gee I love you too hun!  
  
Lily-Yeah, Yeah, well alright..fine! This crazy git who writes all this stuff doesn't own me or any of my friends..  
  
Me-Yes and I actually got this opening idea from Life is but a Dream2000  
  
Lily-And Thank goodness that she doesn't own JKR's characters! Imagine what the madwoman would do to me if she did. OW!  
  
Me-::quickly hides plastic bat:: Well anyway on with the story  
  
~Pests and Pets~  
  
Lily happily bounced into the kitchen with a big smile and her eyes closed. But her smile changed to a frown as she saw that her older sister Petunia sitting at the breakfast table grumpily eating her pancakes. Although Lily knew that deep down she really loved her sister, she also knew that Petunia, or Petty as Lily liked to call her, was not a morning person at all. Petunia looked Lily up and down, and seeing that her sister was already dressed and very much awake, and groaned.  
  
"How did you get up so early?" which she asked with absolute disgust. Petunia didn't like it at all when her little sister did something before her. She seemed to think that it made her self look bad.  
  
"Well," Lily started, leaning on the table, "I simply opened my eyes, stepped out of bed, put some clothes on, and walked down here" Lily smirked at her sister's reaction.  
  
"Ugh," Petunia rolled her eyes, "You and your sarcasm!"  
  
"Aw, gee Petty. You say that like it's a bad thing." Lily said while putting on a charming smile and walking towards the backdoor.  
Lily stepped out into the garden just outside the kitchen. If she knew her mother, she was already outside picking out the terrible invaders of her garden, who multiply like rabbits, or as most people called them, weeds. Lily looked over to where a small row of flowers were surrounding a blue fountain.  
There was her mother bent over and, sure enough, pulling weeds out from in between the flowers. Lily giggled as her mother began mumbling about different weed killers and their lies. Lily tapped her mum on the shoulder and, when she turned around to face Lily, handed her the letter.  
  
"Oh, so now you're sharing?" her mother said as she wiped her forehead off with a cloth.  
  
"Well, I'm in a pretty good mood, so I thought I'd let you have a peak." Lily rocked back and forth on her heals, as she watched her mother read the letter with interest  
  
"So...can I go?" Lily asked hoping the answer was yes.  
  
"Well, it seems like some kind of trick to me, but if it's real then we'll look into it." Her mother looked up from the letter and smiled. "Besides, it sounds like you'd have a lot of fun to me!" Lily jumped up in the air with excitement. She knew that anytime her mum said that she'd 'look into something' it basically meant that if Lily wanted to go she could. Lily sprang back into the kitchen jumping around and squealing with delight.  
She looked over at the breakfast table to see that her older sister Petunia had been joined by her younger sister Violet. Violet looked up at Lily with a confused expression.  
  
"What are you so excited about?" Lily just smiled and looked at her sister with an expression that clearly said 'none of your business', and skipped off to her room.  
Lily opened her door to find the same old pale pastel pink room with a white canopy bed and far too many books for a child her age. But despite her parents' wishes for her to read more about the news and other historical things, Lily's room was filled with books of fantasy. Lily looked on her bed where a ginger striped cat with big green eyes that always had an expression of knowledge on them sat comfortably. She walked over to the cat, pulled it into her arms, and swung it around in circles.  
  
"Guess what Malico? I might get to go to a school where they teach magic!' The, now very dizzy cat, looked at her with a quizzical expression. "Well, I guess it there's also the possibility that it's not even a real school, but if it is then I'll get to go!" Lily smiled at her pet and set it back down on the bed where it then plopped down and smiled lazily up at her.  
  
"Say, do you want to come with me if I go?" Malico looked at his owner with horror. There was no way he wanted to be trapped in a school with Lily learning magic. She might use him for an experimental potion or something.  
  
"Oh wait, that's right you don't like to travel. Well, they said we could have an owl as a pet so maybe I'll get one of those and bring it instead." Malico visibly relaxed and slumped down further onto the bed. Lily went to her bookshelf and ran her finger across the titles, until it found the sixth book on the shelf. She pulled out the Silver Chair and opened it up. She had been reading the Chronicles of Narnia recently, but she just couldn't seem to get past the beginning of the sixth book! Lily had only been reading for about seven minutes before there was a knock on her door. She looked up from her book.  
  
"Come in" the door opened to reveal her sister Petunia standing in the doorway hands on her hips.  
  
"Oh, it's just you." Lily said with a disappointed tone. She had hoped that it was her mother coming to give her some new info about Hogwarts.  
  
"What do mean 'It's just me'?" said her sister in an annoying tone of voice.  
  
"Oh, shut up, you know perfectly well my dear sister that I love ever so much" Lily said this last sentence carefully making it perfectly clear that she was in fact being quite sarcastic.  
  
"Well, sorry to interrupt you from your childish little fantasy world, honestly it's as if you thought those stories of magic would come alive. But I was only wondering if you knew where my eyeliner was." Petunia looked at her sister with an expectant and almost accusing glare  
  
"Well, how should I know? What, you think I took your stupid eyeliner? Lily of course was joking, but her sister looked at her with a serious expression.  
  
"Well, I thought it might be a possibility!" at this Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head.  
  
"Oh yes, Petty! I stole your precious makeup because Malico and I have a date together. You see he's taking me to this lovely little fish café and I thought I might want to use it." At this statement Malico looked at Lily as if she was crazy, and Petunia just scoffed at her sister, and stomped her foot.  
  
"Lily I'm serious! I just so happen to have a date with Vernon and I need that eyeliner."  
  
"Oh, not him, He's so annoying! I honestly don't know how you put up with him."  
  
"Vernon happens to be quite a respectable young man! And if you think he's annoying, then I'm afraid to see what you'll bring home when you're older!" Lily just rolled her eyes once more.  
  
"Look I don't know where your stupid eyeliner or whatever is Okay?" Petunia just sighed in rage, and huffed off. As soon as her sister left Lily went back to her book. However, once she realized that her door was open she put it back down again. She got up from her bed and shut her door. Lily had a thing about it being open. Although, she didn't know why, she just didn't like her door to be open. Her sister's door on the other hand was always open, and because of this, the hallway was always filled with the never ending smell of perfume. Lily guessed that the whole door issue might have to do with her liking small spaces. She didn't know why she liked small spaces either. Perhaps it was the fact that she could see that whole area and not wonder what might be behind or around something. But then Lily had always been that way, imagining that something was around the corner or behind something in the dark. But that was her sister's fault. After all the ghost stories she had told Lily when she was younger, and all the scary movies Petunia had insisted they watch together. Who could blame her for being a bit jumpy in the dark? So Lily liked to sleep with her TV on, although not necessarily loud, just on. She liked having a little noise and light at the same time. It was just the way she got to sleep. Lily once again picked up her book and began to read where she had left off. Less than a few minutes later there was another knock on the door. Lily sighed and hoping it was not her sister back to ask where her powder might be this time said, "Come in." This time however, it wasn't her sister, but her mother who opened the door and came in with a smile.  
  
"Oh, hi Mum" Lily sat up in her bed and almost hit the plump cat beside her when she tossed her book to the side.  
  
"Hi Lily, I just got word from those people from that school and they said that they'd be sending someone over to talk to us very shortly. Lily couldn't believe her ears. This meant that the school must be real!  
  
"Really?!" she asked with excitement.  
  
"Yes, so you'd better brush your hair sweetie" and with that her mother left the room. Lily hurriedly brushed her hair into a ponytail, and ran down stairs.  
Just as she thought they would, this person had indeed come very quickly and was now talking with her parents. She was an older woman who looked to be in her 50's. She had black hair, with a few graying strands, that was kept neatly in a bun.  
When Lily came down the woman introduced herself as Professor Minerva McGonagall, her Transfiguration teacher. Professor McGonagall talked with her parents about the different magical activities, rules, and abilities. She also gave them directions to a place where they could get Lily's school supplies and other things.  
  
"Just walk right in. The Pub's called The Leaky Caldron, Lily you can't miss it. I'll tell the Bar Tender that you'll be coming in sometime tomorrow. He's name's Tom, and you just tell him who you are and that you need to know how to get into Diagon Alley." All the names seemed so strange to Lily, and yet she was truly fascinated about it all when her parents shook her, soon to be Professor's hand who left with the swish of her wand. Lily spent the rest of the day thinking about her new school and talking absentmindedly to her cat. She couldn't wait until the next day. **********  
  
Yes I remember now. I remember how excited I was that day. I just couldn't believe that I was actually going to learn magic. Of course, now I wondered that if I had known what I would get myself into...would I still have gone? I would hope that I would. After all, good things have come out of this as well. Like, learning magic in the first place, and meeting new friends, and him. He's still sleeping over there. And who could blame him? After all, he was up almost all night doing his summer homework. I looked out the window. There, soaring in the air, was a black peregrine falcon. I smiled as I remembered the day I found that bird.  
  
**********  
  
Lily smiled as she and her mother stepped out onto the crowed street. It had taken Lily sometime to get her Mum into The Leaky Caldron, which, was simply because, although Lily could see the little pub quite clearly, her mother could not. But all that mattered at the moment was that they were there and first stop was most definitely the huge, tall, white building before them, Gringotts. When they walked in the first thing to come out of Lily's mouth was a gasp. She couldn't believe it! These must be the goblins that Professor McGonagall had talked about, and Lily had never seen so much marble.  
Lily was thrilled when they told her that her fault number was #1611. Lily's favorite number was sixteen and at the moment she was eleven years old. That way it would be easy to remember.  
Lily and her mother exchanged their muggle money for wizarding coins, and had the goblins there deposit some for later usage as well. They both walked out of the bank. Lily, happy about the whole experience, and her Mum, happy about not having to ride in one of the mine carts. She had seen others go speeding off in the carts and when Lily had asked if they could go see her fault she flatly put her foot down.  
The first store Lily went into was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Lily stepped inside and stood still on a stool as she was fitted for her school robes. While she was being fitted a tall boy who looked to be older than her with slicked back, coal black hair, and cool, calm, grey eyes walked in.  
  
"Oh, and what year are you starting? Third, Fourth maybe?" The boy looked at Madam Malkin with a confused expression and in a soft voice answered that he would be starting his first year.  
At the sound of this Lily's eyes grew to be quite wide. 'Where all wizard's that tall?' she thought to herself. After all she hadn't been that close to one before. Professor McGonagall, and Madam Malkin were both witches and the goblin's at Gringotts were certainly not humans.  
He stepped onto the stool to be fitted and as he stood, and very straightly Lily might add, he sighed as if he's rather be somewhere else at the moment. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily looked this boy up and down. Well, he was tall no doubt about that, but there was something else about him Lily couldn't quite place .  
She did however, notice that he had beautiful hands and very pale skin. This made Lily wonder if he just didn't go outside much or if the sun hardly ever shone where he lived.  
But Lily didn't have time to examine him any longer. She was done being fitted and paid for her robes. Next stop was a book shop called Flourish and Blots. Lily had a jolly good time in there, picking out different ink colors and different types of quills and paper. And she was excited about the extra book her Mum let her buy.  
It was a beginner's Charm guide. It looked like it had been there for a while, but Lily thought it looked useful all the same. So she bought the book with a look of happiness, and they set off for the potions shop.  
The first thing Lily and her mother both noticed about this store was the smell. It was a mix of odd smells and odd things. Lily's Mum talked to the store owner about different school kits and whatnot while Lily looked around.  
A quick visit to the back of the store and Lily found the same boy from madam Malkin's. He was absentmindedly running his finger over the labels on potions. Not much unlike the way Lily herself ran her finger across her books.  
But Lily once again didn't have time to see this boy, for her mother had gotten her, her kit and had a mind to get away from that smell.  
The next place they went was the one Lily had been waiting for. The wand shop! Lily looked up at the golden sign at the top of the store and excitedly went in. She was a bit shocked when the shopkeeper seemed to pop out nowhere with a wand for her, but she liked it all the same.  
Lily managed to break a vase twice, change Mr. Olivander's hair green, "rearrange" the store selves and bust open a window before she found the right wand. Lily picked up her wand and felt as if it been hers forever. She instinctively twirled around and flicked the wand. And once she did a billion bright green sparkles came flashing out of her wand, all in the shape of butterflies.  
Lily happily left the store with her wand which was made of willow, ten inches long, had a core of a unicorn hair, and as Mr. Olivander have told her "Good for Charms work". Now she was really happy about her book choice. It was only until after they were passing the pet shop that Lily remembered that she would need and owl. So she and her mother went inside the little shop. While Lily's mother looked over at a few barn owls Lily, once again wandered to the back. And boy was she glad she did. It turned out that you could teach other birds to deliver messages as well. There were falcons, crows, ravens, and even parrots. But a certain falcon caught Lily's eye. Its perch read Black Peregrine Flacon~Rare. Lily moved closer to the bird. It was sleeping so she was very quiet and slow as she moved. She was standing in front of the bird when it suddenly awoke. It looked her up and down talons clinched and eyes narrowed.  
Lily stayed absolutely still. When the bird relaxed slightly, so did she. It was then that she began talking to the bird in soft slow tones of ease. As she did this the bird seemed to relax even more. It in fact went from its perch onto Lily's shoulder before she knew it.  
  
"There now, see I told you I wouldn't hurt you" she told the bird wile stroking its feathers. She then made her way to the front to of the shop, bird on her shoulder all the way.  
As soon as the shop owner saw her he gasped in surprise.  
  
"What?" Lily asked confused  
  
"Well it's just that bird's never acted friendly towards anyone before. Please you must take him he won't go with anyone else" Lily's Mum shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Whatever you want Lily dear" Lily smiled  
  
"I'll take him. I think he's a sweet bird..deep down." Lily once again stroked the bird's feathers. As Lily and her mother left the shop Lily tried to think of name for her new friend. She thought on the way out of the store, she thought on the way out of Diagon Alley, and she thought on the way home. It wasn't until they arrived at her house that Lily thought of a name for her new pet.  
  
"I know! I'll call you Nuruku!" she set the bird down on the back of her desk chair and began getting ready for dinner.....  
  
A/N There how was that? A little better? I tried to make it a longer chapter. I know it not as long as other peoples , but I wanted to get it long enough to post. (And I'm new at this) Special thanx, and big cookies go to Ash and Scheckie! You guys were my first two reviewers!  
  
Ash-I'm really glad you reviewed! It was great having you start things off for me! And I hope you come back and read. ^__^  
  
Scheckie- You know I love ya! And can you just imagine my excitement and joy when I found your review here?! And I enjoyed if VERY much by the way. (Made me laugh) And in answer to your question Lily's middle name come from my crazy, smart, yet insane little head. I've got middle name for all my characters! Including Sev. If you want to know more about them just drop me an e-mail. (Trust me, go ahead, the address is new so I need to fill up my inbox ^__~ it's in my profile)  
  
Oh yes and special Thanx to Life is but a Dream2000 for letting me use her opening concept!  
  
So who's this boy that our little Lily seems sooo interested in anyway? I don't think it's too hard to figure out, but whatever. Next time, It's off to Hogwarts we go! See you soon, Lils 


	3. That boy from the past and This boy of n...

Disclaimer: I do NOT own these characters..if I did..then I'd most CERTAINLY have a certain young man by the name of Severus Snape tied up in my room right now hee hee. Well here we go!  
  
Chapter 3 That boy from the past and this boy of mystery.  
  
That morning Lily shot out of bed like a popgun! She was so excited about going to Hogwarts that she jumped down the stairs four at a time. She later however, regretted this seeing as there had been a little water on the eighth stair, resulting in her falling dramatically on her bum!  
  
"Oh how very graceful," said her mother as she had rounded the corner just in time to see the young redhead land smack on the floor. Lily got up, rubbing her thigh, and still smiling despite the fact that she would probably be receiving a good bruise for her exuberance.  
  
"Oh, Mom! Today's the day! Today I get to go to Hogwarts!" Lily excitedly began jumping about the room as if it were Christmas day. Her mother just chuckled and said,  
  
"Well I don't know, but I thought that you might like a little food before you go. Especially since, you don't have to be at the train station for another three hours or so!" Lily just smirked at her mother and smiled.  
  
"Well I suppose that I could bring myself to eat a little something before I go." Lily said this, making it sound as though she where on her way to another continent, where she would never see her family again.  
  
Her mother sighed and said, "Well then, what would you like to eat before your long journey?" she said this in the exact same way that Lily had seconds ago. "Pancakes, Bacon, or perhaps a few Eggs?" Lily just headed back upstairs and called out, "Whatever you want's fine with me Mum," and began to walk towards her room.  
  
On the way Lily looked at the door to her sister's room and oddly enough found that it was shut! Lily couldn't believe her eyes. Petunia had never, as long as she could remember, closed her door. Lily had very much wanted to go in and investigate, but just then her younger sister, Violet, had walked up beside her.  
  
"Lily, what are doing?" Her sister rubbed her eyes groggily as she said these words. Lily looked down to her left, and gave Violet a look of obviousness. "Well, what's it look like I'm doing Vi? I'm staring at Petty's door hoping that perhaps she'll suddenly walk out of it and declare that she's a prat!" Violet just rolled her eyes at Lily and stomped her foot impatiently. "I'm serious Lily!" Lily sighed at her sister's cute freckled face and finally gave in.  
  
"Well, incase you haven't noticed our dear older sister has decided that she will actually shut her door for the first time in her life!" Violet looked at Lily questioningly. "That's right folks; our sister has discovered that her door does indeed have hinges."  
  
"And so, I was just standing here wondering what could have possibly posessed her to do such a thing." Lily then looked over at the door to her left. As her sister contemplated what she had said, she made a move towards the door, but to her surprise found that it had opened for her.  
  
She stood there in shock. There was her usually ever so annoyingly perfect sister, with her hair limp at her sides. Her teeth had not been brushed, eyeliner was running down her cheeks, and her face held a red nose with puffy eyes that gave her the look as if she'd been crying all night.  
  
Both sisters looked at Petunia with concern on their faces. They'd never seen her like this before. Sure, she'd cried all night before, but never had something upset her enough to forget to remove her makeup before she had started.  
  
Petunia looked horrified to see her siblings standing before her, gaping at her appearance. She had obviously not expected to see them standing there, and was quite taken aback.  
  
"Petty, what's wrong?" Violet asked as she looked at her very upset sister. Petunia just looked down at Violet as if she was asking her a question about a topic that she couldn't possibly understand!  
  
And sure enough she slammed her door right there in their faces, and a muffled, "You wouldn't understand," could be heard from the door. Lily and Violet just looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.  
  
While Violet had proceeded downstairs, Lily had opened the door to her own room and walked in to find her cat lying on her bed. His usual expression plastered on his face.  
  
However, as soon as she had opened her door he had jumped out of her room and headed down the hall. He apparently had to take care of some, personal business in the litter box.  
  
Lily's eyes then shifted over to a sleeping falcon in a large cage. Moments after setting eyes on the bird, it awoke. It looked at Lily with a sort of smirking glance and began to stretch its wings in greeting.  
  
"Well good morning to you too." Lily went over to the cage and gently lifted the majestic animal out of it. She was reaching for Nuruku's water bowl when she heard her door slowly open.  
  
She turned around to find her concerned mother standing at the door. "Lily," she started, "what's wrong with your sister? She's been in her room all morning and I think I can hear her crying, but she won't tell me what's wrong."  
  
Lily just shrugged her shoulders. "Don't ask me. After all, she seems to think that I wouldn't understand." Her mother sighed and closed her eyes for a second before she spoke again. "Well I'll get it out of her. Oh and Lily dear, your father's downstairs! He just got back."  
  
Lily jumped off her bed, causing Nuruku to screech and fly after her. "Oh sorry." She said to the bird as it settled itself back on her shoulder. "But you see Daddy's been off on a business trip in America, and he's just now getting back."  
  
Bird gave her a look as if to say that he accepted her excuse. She proceeded down the stairs to find that her younger sister was already hugging her father with a loving squeeze.  
  
Nuruku flew off of Lily's shoulder in advance and just in time too. For it didn't take Lily long to jump down the last three steps and run into the tall blonde man's arms.  
  
"Well hello to you too Lily dear." He looked at his daughters with a loving smile. "But where's my little Munchkin?" Lily knew exactly who he was talking about. "Oh, she's up in her room crying about some that she says 'We wouldn't understand."  
  
"Oh, I see. Well then it's probably best if we leave her alone then. Wouldn't you say so Butterfly?" Lily looked up at her father and smiled warmly at the word 'Butterfly'. It was her nickname that he had given her like he had given Petunia Munchkin, and Violet Pumpkin.  
  
"Yeah I guess your right, Dad" But as Violet lead their father out of the house to see how much her "garden" had grown since he'd left, Lily sighed as she slumped down on the couch.  
  
It was nice hearing her old nickname again. After all, like every nickname hers had reasoning behind it, and its reasoning brought back old yet sad memories. Petunia's nickname came from when she was younger and she looked like a Munchkin. Violet's came from her love of Pumpkin pie as well as Halloween. And Lily's came from when she was younger. Back before they had moved to London.  
  
When Lily was little she loved to chase Butterflies. Petty could never understand why her sister wasted so much energy running around trying to catch a little flying bug! Especially since, as soon as she got her hands on one all she'd do was look at it and then let it go.  
  
How's this a sad memory you ask? Well like I said this was before Lily's family moved to London. They used to live out in a more rural area when Lily was younger. And it was there that Lily made her first best friend. His name was Anton Mathews, and if you didn't know any better you would swear that they were brother and sister.  
  
Anton was older than Lily by two years, but when you're best friends to the point that nothing could separate you age doesn't really matter. Especially when you're six and you've been friends with this person since you could walk.  
  
But what was sad about it all was when Lily had to move. Her father had been given a new job offer that had involved moving closer to the main office. So Lily had to leave the country as well as leave the beautiful landscape, animals, and views. But she'd gladly live in an ugly, uninhabited, pit than leave her best friend. But leave Anton she did, and she hadn't been able to get in touch with him since.  
  
Not wanting to dwell on such thoughts much longer Lily decided to go up to her room. Once she walked into her room, her eyes found their way to Nuruku. She looked at the bird curiously wondering how he'd managed to fly all the way back upstairs.  
  
But the noise she heard in the next room distracted her from her thoughts. She could hear her sister sobbing through the wall. That was when Lily decided that she was bored enough to actually try to see what was bothering her sister so much.  
  
She walked out of her room and turned to Petunia's door. She softy knocked and when no one replied she began to turn the handle. To her surprise the door gently opened to reveal her sister sitting on her bed and hugging her pillow as she cried.  
  
Her eyes, Lily noticed seemed to be focused towards her left where her nightstand held her brush, a picture of her and her friend Lisa, and an empty soda can. From the things on the nightstand Lily guessed that Petty was looking at the picture.  
  
"Petty," Lily started but stopped when her sister jumped. She had  
apparently not even noticed the door opening nor Lily's entrance.  
"Petty," Lily started again, "what's wrong?" Petunia just held her  
pillow closer to herself as a tear rolled down her cheek.  
  
"It's nothing..I'm fine...and besides.you...you wouldn't understand!"  
She finished in a huff. At these words Lily felt as if someone was  
turning up the heat. She hated t when people tried to judge what she  
was and wasn't capable of understanding.  
  
"Well," Lily began knowing that she had to try and keep herself calm,  
"why don't you tell me what's wrong anyway. I mean I can tell that,  
weather they'd understand or not, you need someone to talk to."  
  
At this sentence Petunia sighed and slowly put her pillow back at the  
head of her bed. "Oh, Lillith!" she blurted. Which surprised Lily  
seeing as Petty hadn't used her childhood nickname since Lily was  
seven, "its Lisa. She's moving away to France!"  
  
At these words Lily felt her temper rise. How dare her sister say that  
she wouldn't understand loosing one of her best friends! Especially  
since she and Lisa had only known each other for two years, but Lily  
and Anton had know each other so long that they considered each other  
brother and sister.  
  
But Lily decided to refrain from yelling at the moment. The last thing  
her sister needed was to be yelled at right now! "It's Okay Petty,  
um.you'll stay in touch!" Lily forced herself to smile, as she  
remembered when her dad had told her that about Anton.  
  
"You really think so?" Lily's smile disappeared for a second as she  
looked into her sister's face. It was tear stained and looking at Lily  
with hope all over it. "Of course!" Lily lied.  
  
She didn't really believe that they would. After all, she hadn't  
talked to Anton since they had moved. Even though her dad had promised  
her that they could write to each other and see each other and  
everything..they hadn't.  
  
"Thanks for listening Lily!" Petunia looked up at her sister as if  
they were still little girls who loved to play together, and Lily had  
just told her that her birthday wish would come true. Lily smiled as  
she left Petty's room wondering if here sister might be a little nicer  
to her now.  
  
Lily walked back into her room to find Malico hissing at Nuruku and,  
Nuruku with a bit of Malico's fur in his beak and giving him a cocky  
smirk. Lily then wondered if birds could even smirk, but just shook  
her head as she placed her cat onto her bed and her bird in its cage.  
  
She once again picked up the sixth book on her shelf and opened it up.  
She then however, found that her thoughts were wandering off thinking  
about everything from Hogwarts to breakfast.  
  
Although by the time her mother called up the stairs telling her  
breakfast was ready she had read a good twenty pages or so, she shoved  
the book back on the shelf and sighed. She hadn't taken in a WORD of  
the text.  
  
The first thing Lily did when she reached the bottom of the stairs was  
check the clock. Only an hour had gone by. But Lily wanted to be at  
the station by 10:30 so she quickly scarfed down a few eggs and bacon,  
before she run upstairs to get in the shower.  
  
Lily was surprised when she saw how long it had taken her to shower.  
It had only taken about fifteen minutes, the fastest shower Lily had  
ever taken! Lily just shrugged as she started toweling herself off.  
  
Forty-five minutes later Lily's red ringlets where dry resting just  
past her shoulders. She then began putting on the outfit she had laid  
out for herself last night.  
  
She diced that on her first day she would where a dark blue short  
sleeved shirt with long white jeans and wore a dark blue jacket around  
her waist. 'Just incase it gets cold on the train' she thought.  
  
She started looking through her trunk as she checked off items on  
her mind. She didn't want to forget anything, who knew how long it  
would take for Nuruku to bring anything she needed from home to her!  
  
Lily was downstairs and ready to go at 10:15. She knew it wouldn't  
take long to get to the station, and two minutes later, after Lily had  
just about pestered him to death, her father and she were on their way  
to the station.  
  
Once they got to the station Lily froze. She suddenly couldn't  
remember how to get onto, let alone find platform 9 ¾. But everything  
suddenly came to her when she saw a group of people dressed oddly in  
muggle clothes walk near a barrier and disappear.  
  
Lily quickly kissed her father on the cheek, as he wished her good  
luck and reminded her to write, before she headed trough the barrier.  
Lily had to admit. It was pretty intimidating. Standing there before a  
wall, that up until just a few days ago she would have sworn was  
solid, knowing that you were going to run straight through it.  
  
But as she began to run towards the platform she lost control of her  
trolley and was forced to go through weather she wanted to or not. She  
squeezed her eyes shut not knowing if she'd make it or not, but soon  
opened her eyes to people bustling around and a huge scarlet steam  
engine.  
  
Lily just stood there for a few minutes.staring. She couldn't believe  
she was actually here. It was as if all her dreams as a child were  
coming true.  
  
Meanwhile a boy about thirteen years old was sitting with his friend  
Darren Jordan on the train. "I'm telling you mate," he said, "we're  
gonna POUND Slytherin this year!" Darren just rolled his eyes. "Well  
unless you can manage to whip those Chasers into shape I think you're  
gonna be outa luck!"  
  
The boy just rolled his eyes as he began to push his trunk under his  
seat. Once he sat down he looked out the window. There standing in awe  
was a young girl of about eleven years with dark red hair and bright  
green eyes.  
  
The boy shook his head and began inching his face closer to the  
window. Darren looked at him with a confused expression. "Gee mate, I  
didn't know you found that window so attractive!" he said with a smirk  
on his face.  
  
The boy turned around and kicked him playfully in the shin. He then  
proceeded to leave the compartment while ignoring his friend's cry of,  
"Hey! That really smarts!" and a , "Wait where are you going?!"  
  
Lily was still admiring the train with interest as a boy with a light  
blue shirt and black jeans made his way over to her. Only when the boy  
was standing right in front of her did she shake her head and come out  
of her trance.  
  
"Hi." He said. Lily just looked at him. He looked so familiar, but  
Lily couldn't think of anyone she knew who would be here. "Hi." She  
replied not sure why someone would just suddenly get off the train and  
start talking to her of all people.  
  
"Say, would you mind telling me your name?" he asked. Lily looked at  
him questioningly, but answered him all the same. "Lily, Lily Evans.  
And you?" She had expected him to respond in the same way but that  
certainly wasn't what happened at all.  
  
The boy picked her up off her feet and swung her around as if they'd  
known each other for years. Lily was shocked, why was this boy picking  
her up like this when not only had they just met but he hadn't even  
told her his name?!  
  
A/N Well there we have it guys. Who's this new boy that seems to know  
Lily so well eh? A cookie to the first person who guesses correctally!  
^_^ Now then I few other things need to be said!  
  
Ahem! Now there's someone here who I need to give some attention to!  
And that person would be..  
  
isathiel!!!!!! Isathiel was also here before I posted chapter two! AND was the first to give me my first review for the last chappie as well!! ::gives isathiel a hug:: Thanx a million! I LOVE YA LOTS and You Rock my Sox!!!( Hehe sorry it's a saying on a message board)  
  
Also to every one else who reviewed chappie two! Life is but a Dream2000, Lavinia Lavender, and Scheckie!!  
  
Lavina- Thanx for the imput I'm totally glad you reviewed and I hope to see you again soon! ::huggles::  
  
Dream- hehe what can I say? I LOVE YA TO ITTY BITTY PIECES GURL!!!! ^_~ And you know it too! (hehe I almost put your REAL name in here.I'm so used to typing it! ^_^)  
  
And of course Scheckie- you rock and you KNOW IT!! ^_^ I'm looking forward to that e-mail as well as your next review!  
  
Oh yes and MORE special thanks to dream and Isathiel because they've put me on their favorites list!!!!!! ^_______________^ That REALLY means a TON to me you guys!! ::tears up with happiness!:: and I love ya both! Anywho! Can't wait to see what you guys have to say about chappie 3!  
  
Dreaming of happiness and fluff Lils 


	4. Tori Bradford? Who's she?

Disclaimer: I do not own these lovely characters...not one single one belongs to me! Wait....that's not right...I can think of several that do..But they are all Original Characters. All the characters from JK Rowling's WONDERFUL series..well...this goes without saying, but uh they belong to her hehe.  
  
The boy finally stopped swinging her around and set her back down on the ground. He then looked deep into her eyes showing a mixed expression of excitement and confusion. "It's so good to see you again, Lily. It's been ages."  
  
It was then and there that Lily looked back into the boy's eyes and suddenly froze. She smiled as her heart began to race with hopeful excitement. 'No it, it couldn't be!' she thought 'How could it be?'  
  
"An..An...Anton?!" she looked at the boy hopefully, and jumped into the air when he replied with a nod. "Yes Lily it's me! It's so weird I was just thinking about you the other day, and wondering why we'd never gotten back in touch." At this Lily just squealed even more. "So was I!" she said enthusiastically.  
  
"Well come on then! You can sit with me on the train if you'd like." He didn't bother for her answer he just picked up her trunk and started walking towards the train.  
  
Darren was looking at some plans he and Anton had drawn up to try and make glue bombs. They exploded when thrown and when they did, well things got to be pretty sticky.  
  
But just then the door to his compartment slid open. He looked up to find that he was staring into the face of a young redheaded girl as well as his best friend. Who, as a matter of fact, was carrying what appeared to be this girl's trunk and making his way into the compartment.  
  
Lily walked in and sat down. She had noticed that there was another boy in the compartment and assumed that this must have been the friend Anton had talked about. But at the moment she was more interested in inspecting an old friend than making a new one.  
  
She looked at Anton. He'd certainly gotten a LOT taller than she remembered. And she could tell that he had been either working out or playing a sport of some sort, as his arms where already very defined.  
  
Anton sat down next to Lily and looked at his friend. "Well what are you two waiting for? Do you REALLY need me to introduce you to each other?!" Lily shook her head as she took her eyes off of Anton, and shifted her gaze to the dark skinned boy sitting in front of her.  
  
"Hi," she started timidly. "Hi nice to meet you uh..." he let his sentence trail off as Lily scolded herself for not including her name in her greeting. "Lily, Lily Evans! It's nice to meet you as well.." se waited for a name. "Darren, Darren Jordan" He held out his hand for her to shake which she took gratefully.  
  
Only at the station seventeen minutes and she'd already made a new friend and found an old one. "So," Anton started "Do you know much of anything about Hogwarts Lily?" Lily blushed when she replied that she really hadn't a clue.  
  
Anton just laughed at her shy attitude. "What's happened to you?" he asked in a playful manner, "This isn't the girl I used to know who wanted to go randomly knock on the neighbor's doors and ask them for their names!"  
  
Lily laughed. It was true. Once, when she was about seven, she had been complaining about how she and Anton didn't have many other people to talk to. It was just themselves and their parents and Lily's sisters. So Anton pointed out that there were other people and that they just hadn't met them or gotten to know their names.  
  
So Lily had thought that if they just ran up to the people's doors and asked them what their names were that their problems would be solved. Now as she looked back she thought that it was good that Anton had said that they should go eat some cookies instead.  
  
They talked of many more things on the way to Hogwarts. Anton and Darren told Lily just about everything she wanted to know about Hogwarts. And they even got to tell Darren a few of their childhood stories which involved several laughs.  
  
They were having so much fun that when the train pulled up to the station Lily wasn't sure whether she was happy to be there or pouting because the ride was over.  
  
Either way Lily stepped off the train and walked with her two friends as long as she could until she heard a booming voice calling first years to get into small boats. Lily didn't care who she sat with just as long as she was in a boat!  
  
She waved good-bye to Anton and Darren as she made her way over to the water. And that's when she saw a familiar sight, a boy with dark black hair that he appeared to be growing out and pale skin entered a boat with three other people.  
  
'He's the boy from Diagon Alley' Lily thought but quickly started moving again when some of the boats started to move away. She quickly jumped in a boat with three other girls. All of whom, Lily noticed had blonde hair in one color or another.  
  
She looked around at them. She noticed that one girl had her nose stuck in a book that read Defensive Spells on the cover. She had straight blonde hair that was almost white with brown lowlights. Lily was surprised to see that her hair went all the way down to the middle of her back.  
  
She then looked to another girl who sat there looking rather bored as they boat slowly moved across the lake. She kept moving her foot impatiently. She had white blonde wavy hair that rested a good inch above her shoulders.  
  
The third girl was looking around excitedly and wore a big smile on her face. She had straight golden blonde hair that was just a little longer than Lily's. Lily was happy to see someone just as excited about coming here as she was.  
  
When Lily took her eyes off of the excited girl she gasped in awe. There right before her eyes was a castle. Lily couldn't believe it. It was all like one big huge dream.  
  
***********************************************  
  
Yes...that was the first time I saw it, that school. That wonderful school that I thought was so safe. Where I thought nothing could reach me or touch me or do any harm. I see now that there is more to being touched, reached, and harmed that I would have ever imagined.  
  
I looked over to the music box sitting on my left. I pick up the tiny box and laid it inside my hand. I wanted so badly to open it to hear that sweet tune. But one quick glance at the boy I never expected to be with, stopped my thought.  
  
If I opened the box then the music might wake him up. I sat there thinking about how it had all happened. How I had gotten here with him, but couldn't place my finger on where it all started..it just sort of happened one day.  
  
Maybe I should go down stairs. I mean breakfast was probably ready. But I really didn't want to go ahead and eat without him so I decided to sit there some more. I wasn't really hungry anyway.  
  
I looked over to his closet where there were a few dress robes and school robes hanging. I looked at the Hogwarts crest on one of them and started to once again remember. Yes I remember looking at that crest on the way to my sorting, not knowing what to think. Or what would happen.  
  
***********************************************  
  
Lily felt as though she were in a daze. It was just too good to be true. First she's a witch, and now she gets to live in a magical castle! This really was sounding like a fairytale.  
  
As the boats gently came to the banks of the lake, Lily carefully climbed out of her boat and on to the soft grass. She was still thinking about who much like a fairytale her life was turning into when the girl with golden hair from the boat suddenly came up to her.  
  
"Hi!" she said her smile still on her face. Lily now noticed that she had braces. "Hi" Lily said looking interestingly at the girls braces, which where lime green and bright yellow. "My name's Leida! What's yours?"  
  
Lily finally stopped looking at Leida's, bright choice of color and looked her in the eyes. "Lily, Lily Evans" Lily was now admiring Leida's bright brown eyes that looked as though they'd been sprinkled with golden flecks.  
  
"Lily, huh? Well that's a pretty name. So Lily what house do you want to be in?" Lily was a little taken aback by Leida's sudden question. But answered all the same, "Oh well I think I'll shoot for Gryffindor...My friend Anton's in that house." Lily smiled at knowing that she now had her friend back. She couldn't wait to talk to him more and remember good times, as well as make some new ones.  
  
"Really? I want to be in Gryffindor too! Although I suppose Hufflepuff wouldn't be that bad. But I really want to be in Gryffindor!" Leida once again flashed Lily a smile. She looked as if she was going to say something else, but, as Lily had now noticed, they were walking into the castle.  
  
Lily looked around and found her mouth touching the floor for about the third or fourth time that day. The castle was even more enchanting inside! Even though there wasn't much to look at in the entry foyer, Lily could tell from the structure and the magnificent school crest on two huge doors, that there was something different about this place.  
  
Lily was just standing there looking around when all of the sudden she felt something wet hit her nose. She looked up to see where it might have come from, only to have her face splattered with paint!  
  
Lily quickly wiped the red liquid out of her eyes and opened them to a scene of colors. She apparently wasn't the only one who'd gotten splattered. She looked over to her right. There was Leida covered in yellow paint!  
  
"Hey, who covered me in paint?! Oh well at least its yellow! That's my favorite color!" Leida said cheerfully. Lily looked up to see a poltergeist floating in mid air. Lily looked behind her where Professor McGonogall had just entered the room.  
  
"PEEVES!" she shouted, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Peeves flashed a mischievous smile at the professor. "Why, I was just welcoming our new students to Hogwarts Professor." McGonogall just glared back at Peeves.  
  
"And I suppose covering them in paint is supposed to help them feel welcomed!?" McGonogall then flicked her wand and all the paint, with a sigh from Leida, disappeared. "I believe that you should dismiss yourself from any FURTHER disruptions!" she said as she walked to the front of the group.  
  
"Now off with you Peeves." Peeves just floated away with a smirking glare. "Now then, I was going to give you all a little more time before we started the sorting, but I'm afraid that Peeves has taken up that time. So I'll have to take you all with me now into the Great Hall to be sorted." And with that she opened the two huge doors in front of them and led them into what looked like an enormous dining hall.  
  
Lily and a few others gasped in amazement. There they were, walking down the room which had five long tables and floating candles everywhere. Lily couldn't believe what was happening. She even pinched herself just to make sure this was real.  
  
They all lined up and waited for the professor to come back with something. Lily was getting nervous. What exactly would they have to do to be sorted..Anton and Darren hadn't mentioned that to her. And she was extremely surprised to see Professor McGonogall return to the hall carrying a stool and a...hat???  
  
The professor set up the stool and sat the hat on it. Everyone in the Great Hall seemed to be waiting for the hat to do something. Lily was fidgeting nervously on the spot and just about jumped out of her skin when the hat broke into song.  
  
Don't be scarred and don't be shy I'm the only thing you'll have to try Yes try me on after my song Try me on I've never been wrong  
  
Four houses of option we have for you And whichever I pick is right, it's true For I'm a hat that looks inside your heart Or perhaps I'll use your brain for a start  
  
Perhaps you're clever and quick with your mind Well then Ravenclaw will do you fine  
  
Or maybe you're kind, dependable, and to your friends you're true Then perhaps hardworking Hufflepuff will be the house for you  
  
Or you might be one of loyalty, bravery and trust Then I must say Gryffindor, for you that house's a must  
  
Or maybe you're one of ambition, cunning and style Then I think that Slytherin will keep you for a while  
  
So go ahead and put me on I promises it's shouldn't take to long And once your fellow house, you greet Then we can finally eat  
  
The whole Hall burst into applause as the battered hat finally closed its mouth with its last word. Professor McGonogall then stepped up to the stool and unrolled a scroll of parchment. "When I call your name, please step forward and place the Sorting Hat on your head." She said and looked down to read the first name.  
  
Every first year in line was listening very carefully. "Black, Sirius" was the first name said, as a boy with black hair who was fairly tall for his age and who, in Lily's opinion, already seemed quite the looker stepped up to the stool.  
  
The hat seemed to chuckle a bit. "Well now, this is a bit of a change, GRYFFINDOR!!!!!!!" Lily wasn't sure was that whole 'bit of a change' part had meant but didn't pay any more attention to it as the Gryffindor table erupted with claps and cheers.  
  
Lily was so busy looking around the Hall that she almost missed a boy named Stewart Collins being sorted into Ravenclaw. From then on Lily decided to give the sorting her full attention. After all, she could look at the Hall all she wanted while she was eating.  
  
Lily watched as two twins, Monica and Rachel Dickens, where both sorted into Huffelpuff. And smiled at the thought of how confusing that might get to their teachers when she heard the last thing she wanted coming out of McGonogall's mouth.  
  
"Evans, Lily" Lily let out a shaky breath as she headed towards the stool. She felt like the whole world was watching her. And she was very glad once she was on the stool with the hat on her head so that she didn't have to walk anymore.  
  
'Ah interesting very interesting' a voice inside Lily's head said. 'Where's that coming from?' Lily thought. 'Oh come now surely you knew that I could read minds and such didn't you?' the Hat, as Lily now knew, chuckled.  
  
'Well what's so interesting then?' Lily waited for the Hat's reply. 'Well I think that you're most certainly witty enough for Ravenclaw, but you seem to have too much of a caring sense for me not to consider Huffelpuff.  
  
'And I see that you will come to show much bravery in your future. I don't believe I've seen someone this diverse since I had to sort a young girl by the name of Tori Bradford many years ago.' Lily curiously wondered who this Tori Bradford might be but the Hat just continued on.  
  
Lily then thought about Anton and Darren who were both in Gryffindor. 'Ah so you have some friends in Gryffindor eh?' the hat asked. 'Well yes actually I do. But say where did you end up placing that Tori person?' 'Well you're a curious one aren't you? That's alright. Miss Bradford? I placed her in Slytherin. As it turns out, she also had some friends that had already been placed in that house. She did quite well in school.'  
  
With those last words Lily wished for Gryffindor. She even crossed her fingers. At this the Hat laughed. 'Well alright then Miss Evans. "GRYFFINDOR!!!!!" it is.' Lily quickly and happily jumped off the stool leaving the hat behind and ran over to sit next to Anton and Darren.  
  
Lily then quickly turned her attention back to the sorting. After she had been pulled into a hug and hit playfully on the shoulder by Anton as a congratulation that is.  
  
The next name that McGonogall called out was "Hotaru, Elizabeth" It was the girl from the boat that had, had her nose stuck in a book the whole ride. It didn't take the hat long to call out the word "RAVENCLAW" and soon Elizabeth was sitting at a table where several other people where in fact reading books between sortings.  
  
The Professor called out a few more names, such as Vanessa Jones, who went straight to Slytherin, and Christina Louis who was sent to Huffelpuff. But then the Professor cam to a boy that caught Lily's attention.  
  
"Lupin, Remus." she said, as a boy with sandy brown hair and a shy looking expression sat up in the stool. Lily thought that he looked a bit on the sickly side, but that was alright. He looked like a good chap all the same.  
  
It was actually about a good four minutes before the Hat finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR!!!!!" and Remus headed over to their table. Lily also noticed that this Remus boy was friends with that Sirius boy. She smiled at the fact that he has already made a friend as well. He looked like he would like some.  
  
The next name called was "Malfoy, Lucifer." This, for some reason, caused the Hall to irrupt into hushed whispers and such. The Hat had barely touched the boy's head before it didn't shout, but in Lily's opinion, screamed "SLYTHERIN!!!!!!!" And the long haired blonde boy took a seat at his table.  
  
The Hat sorted a young boy named Richard Mellington into Ravenclaw before the list came to a girl by the name of "Mills, April." A young girl with long black hair and blonde highlights that went down to her waist approached the stool.  
  
Lily noticed that the girl didn't seem worried at all. She seemed to be very calm and collected. The hat only took a few moments to answer what Lily had been wondering. "Why another surprise tonight, GRYFIINDOR!!!!!!!!!" Lily wondered what all these surprises where and made a mental note to ask Anton later.  
  
Lily was starting to get hungry and was glad to know that they were down to seven students. The next name that was called out caught Lily's attention just by the unfamiliar last name. "Pettigrew, Peter." Lily watched as an extremely nervous boy stumbled over to the stool and shakily put the hat on.  
  
I took the hat a fairly long time before it finally shouted out the word "GRYFFINDOR!!!!" To which Lily was very surprised and watched as he, too sat down next to Remus and Sirius.  
  
The next name to be called out was "Potter, James". There where a few whispers about this name as well so Lily was quite interested to see who this was.  
  
She looked up to see a boy, taller than her by only about an inch and a half with jet black messy hair and a nervous, but calm expression on his face. Lily looked the boy up and down and after much thought finally decided that he was rather cute and that she hoped he was in Gryffindor.  
  
Sure enough just as the hat had touched his hair it shouted proudly, "GRYFFINDOR!!!!!!!" And Lily clapped along with the others. She was a bit surprised to see him also join Sirius, Remus and Peter.  
  
Lily watched as a girl named Holly Richards was sorted into Hufflepuff and mentally kicked her stomach which was now growling quietly with hunger. But the next name mentioned quickly took her mind off food.  
  
"Snape, Severus" several whispers quietly emerged throughout the hall and Lily looked up to see a familiar face. There he was! The boy from Diagon Alley. 'So his name was Severus eh? It sort of fits I guess.' Lily thought to her self as the straight backed boy with black hair and a bored expression sat onto the stool.  
  
Once the hat had been placed completely onto his head it wiggled once before it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!!!!!" and Severus made his way over to the table. None of the names mentioned so far had caught Lily's interest more so than this one. The next name that was called was, "Starks, Leida."  
  
Lily watched as her new found friend happily walked over to the stool. The Hat seemed to think for a moment and then it looked a tad bit confused and actually shrugged as much as any Hat could before finally shouting out the word, "GRYFFINDOR!!!!"  
  
Lily was so happy! Her new friend was going to be in her house. This was great! Not to mention that they now only had three more people to go! Then they could eat. Lily's stomach growled at the thought of food.  
  
The last three people where all sorted into different houses. Tara Thomas was sorted into Huffelpuff, Paul Clearwater was sorted into Ravenclaw, and Terrence Zeglander was sorted right into Slytherin.  
  
Lily and the rest of the Hall clapped with approval as the last boy, and last first year for that matter, finally sat down. Lily looked around waiting for food but sighed as what appeared to be the Headmaster began standing up to speak.  
  
"Firstly, I want to welcome all our new students. I hope that you will feel welcome here and that you find that you are getting along well with those in your house. After all, while you're here your house is your family." Lily and Anton turned to each other and smiled at the thought of being siblings.  
  
"And I must remind you all that the Forbidden Forrest is well, quite Forbidden to all students. And Mr. Filtch has asked me to kindly tell you once again that no magic is allowed in the hallways." I few students chuckled at the statements before the Headmaster continued on.  
  
"Well for now that is all I have to say and I do believe that all of you are getting a least a bit hungry so I'll leave you with these words which are not of wisdom...they are simply, Eat up!" And with that Lily turned to the table and gasped at the sight.  
  
There sitting in front of her was almost every food she could possibly want. Lily wanted to try everything so in a matter of seconds her plate was full. Although Lily didn't manage to eat everything on her plate, she did mange to eat just about all of it.  
  
Once everybody had finished eating, two people called prefects began leading them to their common rooms. Lily and Leida had both agreed that they would probably forget how to get there tomorrow because they were too tired to see where they were going.  
  
Once they all finally stopped Lily found herself standing in front of a large portrait of a rather large lady in a pink dress. Lily would have jumped when the picture said "Password..?" If she hadn't been so tired. " Googlemitten!" one of the prefects replied to her as all the students of Gryffindor tower made their way up to their dormitories.  
  
Lily had thought three hours ago that she'd be too excited to sleep that night, but found that for once sleep came quite easily TV or no TV. Lily snuggled into her covers and laid her head down on her soft pillow and as she began to drift off, she still couldn't help but wonder who that Tori Bradford really was.  
  
A/N Well I think we all know that the big huge cookie goes to Dream! Hehehe Who I would like to once again thank for all her support and her reviewing. ^_~  
  
I'd also like to thank Deathdragon and Millie Starr for their reviews as well! ^_^ And since I have your permission Millie I will add you to MSN messenger. ^_^  
  
So who do you guys think this Tori Bradford person is? Perhaps she was a great witch who believed in peace..or Maybe she was once of the darkest witches ever!! Who do you think Miss Bradford might be related to? DO you think she's alive or perhaps she's dead! I can't wait to see your comments!  
  
See you soon, Lils 


	5. Shaky Trust

Disclaimer: Okay you guys this is going to be short since I don't have a lot of writing time since school's started now. All Harry Potter characters are property of Ms. JK Rowling. I am merely borrowing them for my story  
  
Chapter 5~ Shaky Trust  
  
The next day Lily was awoken by the sound of cheerful humming. She lazily opened her eyes, but quickly pulled the covers over her head as if it were natural reflex. The sun had shone right into her eyes and she grumpily peeked her head out to look at the clock on the wall.  
  
6:37am the clock read. Lily wondered who on EARTH was up so early when all of the sudden she was being shaken by someone. Lily didn't bother to see who it was. She didn't care, it was WAY too early for her to care!  
  
'Maybe if I just lay here they'll think I'm asleep and go away' Lily thought. And so she lay in her bed pretending to be asleep while this person continued to try and wake her up.  
  
Had Lily been sitting up she probably would have had an eye twitch form waking up so early. She just continued to lay there. All of the sudden the shaking stopped and Lily relaxed. Ten minutes later that horrible Shaking was BACK!!!  
  
Lily, who had almost gotten back to sleep, in reflex reached her hand up quickly flung it in the air accidentally hitting whoever was trying to wake her in the face. "Ouch! Hey I was just trying to ask you if you wanted to go down to breakfast with me."  
  
Lily's eyes shot open. "Oh I'm soooooo sorry!" It had been Leida trying to wake her up the whole time. "I'm really sorry Leida I didn't know it was you and I'm not used to getting up THIS early." Lily really was sorry. After all, besides Anton and Darren, Leida was the only friend she had so far.  
  
"Oh that's okay." Leida giggled a bit, "I have a little sister who does the same thing when I try to wake her up." Lily laughed along with Leida for a while before Leida asked once again if Lily'd like to come down to breakfast with her.  
  
Lily looked at the clock it was about 7:10 now and Lily figured that she would have been getting up by now anyway. "Sure why not. Just let me get ready for school." Lily took a quick shower and slipped on her school uniform before she gathered her things for class and they headed to breakfast.  
  
When they walked into the Great Hall one of the first things Lily saw was a bright smile being flashed her way. She turned her head to see who it was and found that it was James Potter, the boy with the messy hair from the sorting.  
  
Lily looked at the boy questioningly before he opened his mouth and said, "Good Morning, Lily Evans isn't it?" Lily just blinked for a few seconds before replying "Oh yeah, and um you're James Potter..right?" Lily was hoping she was right it'd be terribly embarrassing if she didn't know his name after he'd known hers.  
  
"Yep that'd be me!" He flashed Lily another smile and Lily couldn't help but blush slightly. 'He's totally flirting with me!' she thought. She hadn't even noticed Leida giggling beside her until she started pulling on Lily's arm to sit down.  
  
After sitting down Lily looked in front of her. There he was sitting there in front of her. It was Anton with a smirk plastered on his face he'd apparently saw the whole James incident.  
  
Lily took a moment to really look at how much her child hood friend had changed. She'd already noticed before that he'd begun to fill out his form, but there were other things about him she hadn't noticed before.  
  
His light blue eyes were relaxed and full of wonder and interest now. Before they'd been wide open and extremely cautious and lighthearted. His hair which used to be cut in a short style was now falling into his eyes.  
  
And his smile seemed different. Before it had made Lily smile and laugh along with whatever he was smiling about, but now ....it was a totally different feeling she'd never felt towards Anton before.  
  
"Already getting involved with boys eh Lils?" Anton continued to smirk while Lily snapped out of her thoughts and registered what he said. Once she had she continued to blush even more. "Shut up." She said as she flicked a piece of toast at him. He just dodged it and laughed.  
  
"Well what did you expect Lily? Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?" Anton continued to chuckle but Lily just sat there. Lily hadn't noticed the changes in her, but then she figured that since she saw all these changes in Anton he was bound to see some in her as well.  
  
Lily just rolled her eyes at him. He just seemed different. Lily just went back to eating her toast when she heard Leida whisper in her ear, "What do you think of him?" she sounded a bit dazed if you asked Lily.  
  
Lily looked up to find her friend staring over at the quiet boy named Remus and smirked. "Got a thing for quiet boys eh?" Lily looked towards Leida to find her blushing. "Well, I talked to him in the hall a bit and he seems nice.he's kinda cute too." At this Lily just smiled even more.  
  
Lily looked around her searching for anyone she'd seen the night before. She saw that girl from the boat. Elizabeth, Lily believed her name was, as well as that other girl from the boat Vanessa. Lily wasn't really paying attention until her eyes landed on a girl she remembered as April Mills.  
  
Lily remembered because the hat had said that her sorting was a surprise. Lily turned to Anton and rolled her eyes when she heard him talking about Quidditch. She decided to get his attention by flicking another piece of toast at him. It landed in his hair and Lily could see the corner of his mouth twitch slightly as he was getting it out. "Yes?!" he asked sounding slightly annoyed. Lily hung her head at bit; she hadn't meant to make Anton mad at her.  
  
Anton sighed a bit when he saw her do this. "Look I didn't mean to sound snappy okay?" Lily smiled a little and straightened back up. "Just don't throw it in my hair next time okay?" he smirked and Lily could tell that all had been forgiven.  
  
"Well I was wondering..." Anton raised his eyebrow; "Yes?" he asked giving her look telling her to just spit it out already! "Well that girl April Mills..why was her sorting considered surprising?" Anton leaned back in his chair.  
  
"Well it's mostly because of her family. Her mother's side of the family has been in Slytherin for ages. And her father's side has all either been in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Her Dad was the first in their family to be in Gryffindor."  
  
Lily still didn't understand. "Why does that all matter?" Lily was quite confused and couldn't see why everyone would find it unusual that April hadn't followed in the same steps as her family.  
  
Anton sighed at her question. "Things work a little differently as far as expectations in the magical world." Lily just looked at him still confused. "Things that that are usually just assumed; people just assume that since most of her family was in Slytherin that she should be too."  
  
Lily thought about it before she realized how terrible it must be to automatically be judged like that. "Well at least the sorting hat seems to fairly judge." She said. "Yeah I guess so. The sorting hat looks more at a person's thoughts and wishes rather than their name though."  
  
"Yeah I guess you're right." Lily continued to look around the room and was about to ask if the four boys, James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius, had always known each other when Professor McGonagall came around with schedules.  
  
Lily looked at her schedule and saw that they had first period with the Hufflepuffs in Herbiology. That didn't sound too bad to Lily. She'd skimmed over their Herbiology book and it looked like it might be interesting.  
  
Lily looked over at Leida who was looking quite happy about their first class. "You like Herbiology?" Lily asked. "Yeah, I LOVE it!" she said. "I used to look at pictures of the different plants when I was little." She smiled at Lily. "Well let's head out I wanna make sure we get a good seat!"  
  
And with that Leida pulled Lily, who still had half a piece of toast in her mouth, out through the doors of the school and over to Greenhouse 1. Lily paused once they were inside. Everything looked really different. There was so much variety in the room!  
  
There where some plants that were so colorful Lily felt like she was looking into a rainbow. But then there were other plants that just looked like dirt that had been molded into a plant-like state. There was even a plant that looked like a gigantic version of a Venus flytrap!  
  
Leida pulled Lily into the seat beside her and told her a bit about a few plants while they waited for the professor to come in.  
  
After class was over Lily decided that it seemed fairly easy for now. Really all you had to do was listen very carefully to what the Professor said. But when she said listen she really wasn't kidding! One of the four boys that were always together, James, hadn't listened carefully enough and had later been sent to the hospital wing with a cut hand.  
  
Lily looked at her schedule and found that next up was Transfiguration. Lily was just a little more excited about this class. The ability to change something into something else sounded like it would be really cool.  
  
When they walked into the classroom Lily was surprised to see a cat sitting on the Professor's desk. Lily couldn't help it; she walked up to the kitty and started petting it and scratching it behind the ears.  
  
That's when she realized how much she missed her own cat and wished that Malico could have come with her. Sure she had Nuruku but he could just be so Moody sometimes! Malico had a BIT of an attitude as well, but his was just a part of his personality.  
  
Lily stopped petting the cat which actually seemed to be smiling and sat down next to Leida. Lily looked at her schedule again and saw that they had this class with the Ravenclaws.  
  
Elizabeth Hotaru walked in the room. Lily had wanted to say Hi too her she seemed like she would be pretty nice, but when she saw that she was reading she decided not to interrupt.  
  
And then they entered, those four boys that just seemed to be joined at the hip. Lily couldn't help but stare at them. They all really were fairly good looking for their age. Peter looked like he would have been quite the cutie if he'd just loose the baby fat.  
  
Remus seemed nice and all, but one Lily's now best friend had a crush on him and two he was just a little too shy for Lily's taste. The two that really caught her attention were the two that seemed to be joined together the most.  
  
James Potter and Sirius Black were both very charming. As Lily looked around the room she noticed that she wasn't the only one who'd been staring. Several girls were already sighing themselves to death and some on the verge of drooling!  
  
Lily just shook her head and watched as the two boys took a seat next to each other. The whole class was silent for a while but all were looking around curiously for the Professor. Suddenly, the cat that had been on the desk before hopped over near a chalkboard and sat in a chair next to it.  
  
The cat let out a meow and just as suddenly changed into their own Professor McGonagall! Lily was so shocked and suddenly felt quite embarrassed for having earlier scratched her Professor behind the ears and even petting her!  
  
Professor McGonagall chuckled at their stunned faces and said, "Several of the young ladies in our class came and gave me a very nice welcome." The Professor smiled and Lily was happy to hear that she hadn't been the only one to be fooled.  
  
That day in class they were all supposed to try and turn a match into a needle. Lily wasn't having too much luck but at least, unlike Leida, she hadn't set her match on fire. James Potter was the first to successfully complete his assignment, followed, of course, by Sirius, and Remus.  
  
By the end of class Lily had managed to basically change her match into a metal stick! It wasn't sharp and wasn't quite a needle but Lily was happy with it as a first try.  
  
Lily looked back at her schedule and happily smiled. It was time for Charms with the Slytherins. Lily wasn't too sure how happy she was about that Slytherin part from what Anton had told her but at least it was Charms and Lily was excited about that.  
  
Lily had been waiting to go to Charms class ever since she had been to Diagon Alley. Lily looked curiously around the room and wondered why there were books on top of the teacher's chair. However, not wanting another cat incident to happen, Lily decided to leave the books alone.  
  
Lily once again found herself searching around the room for familiar faces. She noticed that the other blonde girl from the boat, Vanessa, was in this class as well as that boy Severus Snape. Lily smiled when she saw him. She didn't know why but she was interested in what he was like. He seemed shy and quiet but looked intelligent all the same. Maybe Lily would find a crush in this quiet boy like Leida did in Remus.  
  
Lily stopped looking around when she heard a wand tapping on the desk she was surprised to see what looked almost like a small little dwarf standing on the books and tapping his wand. "Now class," he began in a peppy cheerful voice that seemed to make the Slytherins twitch.  
  
"Quiet down won't you?!" he asked with a little more force so that his voice almost squeaked. The rest of the class finally looked up at the short little man with shoulder length dusty white hair which had been pulled back into a small ponytail at the back of his wizard's cap.  
  
"Now then, I am your Charms teacher Professor Flitwick and today we will be practicing the hand motion for a levitation spell." The professor picked up his little wand and with graceful movements and a hushed word or two caused some of the books on his desk to levitate.  
  
All of the students stared in mixed expressions of excitement, awe and interest, they were all eager to try the spell but as first years they weren't too sure of themselves.  
  
"Right then, now I don't want all of you to be trying the full spell today; because today I just want you to practice the hand motions. Just get out your wands it's a simple swish and flick movement" The students rustled about with their wands  
  
Lily held her wand in her hand watching the professor carefully she consulted the extra Charms book she'd picked up in Diagon Alley and as soon as the Professor was done explaining and gave them the go ahead Lily started practicing right away.  
  
It took Lily a while before she noticed that a few people were staring at her with expressions of awe. Lily was a little nervous..was she doing something wrong, but when the professor came over and complemented her she knew that she must have been doing well and blushed.  
  
"Very nice Miss Evans! If the whole class has gotten this fairly well by tomorrow then we might be starting practice with actual levitation items." The professor looked like he was pleased and excited with his first year students and Lily left the classroom, for lunch, in a good mood.  
  
Lily walked with Leida, who didn't do NEARLY as well in Charms as Lily, to Lunch. The two girls sat side by side when Lily noticed that April Mills was sitting near them. Lily wondered about her. She just seemed so quiet and secretive, but she did very well in all the classes they had, had already.  
  
Lily decided that she would talk to this April girl later after class in their dormitories. That's when she heard the sound of wings. She was surprised to see about 5 owls enter the Great hall. All the students started whispering and sending curios glances. Everyone knew that the post had already come this morning.  
  
Then as a few students gasped Lily decided to look at the owls more closely. Lily now noticed that every single one of them was either black or gray and that they all held black envelopes.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Yes I remember that day. The day with the black and gray owls that looked so ominous. I know that I wasn't sure about why they were there at the time, but I would soon know what those owls meant and it wouldn't be the last time I saw them.  
  
I looked over to where he's still sleeping soundlessly. His family was mostly torn apart, but they weren't greeted by black or gray owls, even though it was the same thing that caused both the owls to appear as well as his family tearing.  
  
I finally decide to step out in the hallway for a second, because it's warmer out there and I had been getting cold chills. I used to never feel them, these freezing shivers that run along my bones. That's something that's come over time. A lot of people get them now, but I remember I never had them in first year.  
  
Everything had seemed so safe, so clam, so magical and untouchable. Oh how wrong I was for thinking that. I did slowly begin to realize after time just how bad things were, but that didn't come till much later.  
  
I looked down below me where I could see all the way down the two stories left of the house. Everything was so big and elegant here. You would think that they had parties and guests over frequently, but on the contraire, the owners themselves were hardly ever here.  
  
That left him and his brother here alone most of the time. I never thought that I'd understand him and know him so well. I'd always watched him, I'd talked to him, it wasn't like we had been strangers, but it was the histories that had kept us apart. It wasn't even our histories really. I knew nothing of that in first year either. But I still remember the fear and panic in the eyes of those who had seen those owls before. Praying that one did not choose to drearily fly near and land softly and symbolically in front of you where it would drop its black letter and fly off; sometimes leaving a feather behind. Luckily the Gryffindor table had spared the visit of the owls to their table, but others were not so lucky.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
Lily looked around and jumped when a painfully distressed cry came from a now crying Ravenclaw as she looked down at the black letter in front of her. But her cry was not the last to be heard. Two more could be heard from students as they each also were given a black scroll.  
  
The two gray owls flew towards the staff table. One owl went to Professor McGonagall and the other to Professor Dumbeldore. Lily watched as her usually stern and confident looking Transfiguration teacher's expression was changed into a sorrowful look of concern as she glanced at the three who had received letters.  
  
Dumbeldore suddenly looked a bit older, wiser and gave the same three deep looks of caring and folded the letter as he placed it into his pocket. "If those of you who have received a black notice would please follow me to my office, I feel that I need to discuss a few things with you." The three who had received letters slowly got up from their tables and left with Professor McGonogal and Professor Dumbeldore.  
  
Everyone in the Great Hall, with the exception of a few Slytherins, looked at the three retreating kids with concern. Lily was confused; she looked up at Anton already asking with her eyes what all this meant.  
  
Anton looked down at Lily, she was worried and she didn't even know what was going on. He knew she was going to have a hard time accepting that not all magical people were good.  
  
Anton was still lost in thought when he finally heard Lily voice the question she'd already been asking. "Anton," she said in a whisper, "what was all that about? With the black letters and all?"  
  
Anton sighed and looked into her eyes. Lily noticed that they seemed to be lost in thought and full of concern and feeling. "Well Lily, you see.it means that someone close to them, most likely a family member or something, have well.died." Lily's eyes already widened in surprise.  
  
"But since those particular owls came, it means that..well.." Anton let his sentence trail off as if he didn't even want to say it. "It means they were killed." Darren finished. Lily gasped in surprise, she had expected a death but not for them to have all been killed.  
  
"But who, who could have, who would have done something like that?!" Lily looked confused again and Anton looked away. She had been so happy to be there he didn't want to be the one to have to tell Lily that not all in the magical world was good.  
  
Thankfully it was Darren who, once again, responded. "There's a Dark Wizard named Voldemort and he has a group of supporters called Deatheaters. It might have something to do with him." Darren seemed to hang his head slightly. Anton knew that Darren had lost his older sister to a group of Deatheaters. He had been small so he didn't remember it but it still hurt him.  
  
It was quiet before Lily asked, "Voldemort? Deatheaters, what's all that mean?" Anton who didn't want Darren to have to answer another question on the subject responded instead. "Voldemort has been steadily gaining more power now a days. And the Deatheaters who used to be but a small group of fifteen or so has now grown to at least somewhere in the 90's."  
  
"Nobody's sure exactly what his purpose is right now." Anton didn't want to worry Lily by telling her that the one thing they knew was that he was after Muggle-borns and Muggles. He didn't want to discuss it anymore.  
  
"So you liking all your classes so far Lily?" Lily wondered for a second how the subject had changed but when she saw Anton's face she decided to not question the matter any further. "Oh they're alright I guess. I have double potions after this though, what's the Professor like?"  
  
Anton and Darren both chuckled. "Who? Professor Nightwar? He's one of the best Professors here. He's really well mannered." Anton smiled at Darren who finished the sentence, "Unlike his house." They all laughed and ate a bit before Lily got her things together for potions and Anton and Darren headed to Care Of Magical Creatures.  
  
Lily and Leida left for potions together which actually turned out to be quite a trip, because on the way they ran into Peter, James, Sirius, and Remus. "Hey there you." Lily turned around to find the face of a grinning James Potter. Lily smiled, she could tell he had a crush on her; either that or he was certainly a flirt.  
  
"Hi," she said. She noticed that Remus was eyeing Leida quietly and almost blushing because of her own attention being directed toward him. "What's going on?" he asked giving her another smile almost as if he thought she was already love struck.  
  
Lily just giggled when she noticed that his friend, Sirius, was already playing a prank on his friend by changing his hair color. It was already slowly changing from its deep black into a violent shade of bright orange. Leida too had noticed and was also laughing.  
  
James stepped back looking confused, until he saw both Peter and Remus laughing as well with Sirius nowhere to be found. James turned around and, as if it couldn't have gotten worse, found himself directly facing Sirius's wand and got a blast of orange in the face.  
  
James then whipped out his own wand and aimed towards Sirius's hair. He missed though making a clearly visible hot pink stain on Peter's shoe. As soon as Sirius saw the color James had just used he ran off laughing calling back, "You'll have to do better than that to get me hair Potter! Arr for I be Captain Black who has snitched yer book from yer bag!"  
  
James just laughed and ran off after his friend and as they disappeared Leida and Lily could hear James say, "Black you pirate unhand that book, what has it done to you unhand it I say you villainous dog!" The two girls and what remained of the four boys all laughed and continued to set off for potions without them.  
  
As soon as they walked in the Potions room Lily looked around for Professor Nightwar. Lily decided after a few minutes that he must be out of the room and sat down in the nearest seat. She would have followed Leida, but she was already sitting with Remus and talking to him about Herbiology.  
  
Lily grinned and turned around and saw that she had sat down right next to Severus Snape. He seemed to be lost in a book that's title was in Latin, which Lily couldn't understand. "Hi" she said smiling at him. He seemed to jump at the sound of her voice. 'I guess he didn't notice me sit down.' Lily thought.  
  
"Hi," he said quietly before returning to his book. 'Not exactly the friendly sort, is he?' Lily asked herself. Lily decided to try and make some sort of conversation with him. "So, what's that you're reading?" she asked curiously. He just looked up at her with narrowed eyes and said, "A book."  
  
Lily just shook her head. "Well I figured that, but what's the book called." He naturally just looked at the cover and read exactly what it said, in Latin that is. Lily sighed, 'Am I ever going to get ANYWHERE with this guy?' she thought. She was only trying to make decent conversation and here he was acting like she was an annoying little 4 year old.  
  
But she decided to have patience. "What's it mean.in English?" she asked. He let out a small sigh and set his book down. "Why are you sitting by me?" he asked. She looked a bit surprised. "It was just the closest seat." He rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you be sitting with some Gryffindor?" he asked. "Well no not that I know of anyway." Lily was starting to grow annoyed but once again calmed herself. "Besides my friend Leida is already sitting with someone."  
  
She had half expected him to next ask her if she had any other friends she could sit by but instead he just nodded his head and went back to reading. After a few minutes of silence, the class was just now starting to really come in and fill the room. Lily decided to try this again.  
  
"So your name's Severus right? Mine's Lily, but I've never heard of your name before it's really unique." He once again put down his book and sighed. He looked into her eyes and said, "Why do you talk to me so much?" Lily almost lost it then. She had just given him a compliment and here he was, once again, answering her question with another question.  
  
"Why not?" she asked, "Why shouldn't I, I was only trying to make conversation." She said trying not to sound snappy. He also seemed to be getting rather agitated. "You're a mudblood aren't you?" he looked at her as if he should have known something. "Pardon, am I a what?" she looked very confused.  
  
He once again sighed but this time the sigh was heavier more irritated. "A Muggleborn, you know, no magical parents." Lily's mouth twitched slightly as she answered, "Yeah, so what's it to you?" she really was starting to loose it.  
  
He just rolled his eyes and said with a huff, "Never mind." Just then the Professor walked in through the door. He looked rather cheerful and had a bright smile on his face. "Hello, hello, welcome all of you. I am Professor Nightwar I will be teaching you Potions. Now then.."  
  
The Professor went on and on about different things and they had to take notes every now and then. Lily was just amazed that this was the head of Slytherin house. He seemed really quite nice and was very descriptive at explaining things.  
  
Lily looked over and saw Snape copying every word that the Professor was saying even when they didn't have to take notes. Lily thought about telling him this but decided that she didn't feel like having all the sarcasm thrown at her right now. Why ruin a good class?  
  
"Now then if you all will work together with the person you're sitting next to then I would like you to try to make this." With a wave of his wand writing appeared on the black board with instructions. It seemed to be a fairly simple one but Lily wasn't going to argue, after all it's not like she'd ever done this before.  
  
Lily looked over to see Severus push all the items that needed to be cut towards her. "Here you cut these up like it says, while I get the cauldron ready." Lily almost protested at the fact of just cutting up things, but after she double checked the board decided not to.  
  
All the potion really was, was cutting up ingredients heating the cauldron just right and throwing them in the right order while giving the potion a good stir. When Lily finally finished cutting, she'd had trouble starting on one of the pants which smelled horrible when cut. She looked over to see Severus ready and waiting.  
  
"Oh you're done, good. I was wondering when you were going to get over that smell." Lily sighed that could have been a decent sentence had he left off the part about the smell. Together they worked on putting the right ingredients in at the right times and making sure the cauldron maintained its temperature.  
  
"Excellent Miss Evans, Mr. Snape. I shall be expecting great things from the both of you in my class." At first Lily was at bit confused but then as she glanced at the potion she saw that it had been completed and was text book perfect too boot.  
  
Snape seemed to glance at her in a way that confused Lily some. It seemed like he was looking at her with a look of respect. But at the same time it was like he suddenly saw her as a threat.  
  
Since they had gotten done so quickly Lily now had extra time. Not wanting to start up another conversation with Severus, Lily decided to read a bit more of her own book. Lily did however look up briefly to see that Leida and Remus had also finished their potion.  
  
A smile began to curve itself into place on Lily's face as she saw that Leida was giggling about something while Remus smiled and continued to say something to her.  
  
But as soon as Lily glanced back down at her book the Professor told them that they were dismissed. Lily happily bounced down the hallway towards Gryffindor tower. She had decided that she would put her things away before she headed down to dinner.  
  
Lily walked into the common room to find Anton and a girl named Fiona Rose that Lily had only seen a few times sitting together on the couch. Fiona was blushing and Anton seemed to be off in another world. Lily was a bit confused at first but she wasn't that stupid.  
  
As Lily headed up to her dorm she had to fight back giggles. As far as she could guess it looked like some sort of kiss had taken place. As soon as Lily flopped down on her bed she realized how tired she was. She tried and tried not to drift off but soon found herself drifting away.  
  
********************************************************************** 'It is yours' a voice said in a dim room lighted with a single green torch. 'It is yours to have and protect. It has chosen you.' Lily could see herself shake her head in the light.  
  
'No I can't take it, I don't deserve I'll loose it I'll-' 'It will never stray from you, it will always be at your side. And there it will be quite sheltered and safe' Lily saw herself once again shake her head. 'No I couldn't. I'm just not strong enough to power-'  
  
'Oh but you must! It will only rest at your side, yours and no one else's. Go head touch it.' Lily could see something being pushed at her. Suddenly she was no longer watching from the sidelines but she was inside herself.  
  
She reached out and felt for something anything. She searched for a long time almost afraid she wouldn't feel a thing. 'Feel with trust dear, with trust' Lily closed her eyes and reached out long. Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder.  
  
The room went white and faded away.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
It was Leida standing beside her looking confused. "Come on Lily I thought we were going to dinner not to bed!" And with that the two friends set off together down towards the Great Hall, leaving Lily wandering shakily about the dream.  
  
A/N alright! So what'd ya think? ^____^ aorry this took sooooooooo long. ::coughAlgebra1 and PS can both be such pains::cough:: not to mention all the OTHER stuff that's been going on lol. Anywho well it's FINALLY here. ^__^ I hope I've left you wandering about a few things ^___~ by the way..  
  
This fic is going to be longer than I thought and although I'm going to kee the entire thing together in once piece it WILL be divided into years. This one is year on and is called The Jewl Of Trust and will be part of my A Flower Of Contrast series ^__~ Anywho, can't WAIT to see some replies.  
  
Lovin' ALL my R&R ppl!! Lils 


	6. Shaky Dreams and Silly Fights

Disclaimer: Hello all! Yes I own all these wonderful characters and make millions of dollars off of them and am praised by fans!! HA! I WISH! No all Harry Potter Characters are property of Ms JK Rowling. And trust me they're better off in her hands he he he he   
  
Chapter 6- Shaky Dreams and Silly Fights  
  
Lily and Leida headed down to dinner together with Lily still shaking slightly. "What's up with your hand?" Leida asked noticing the sudden twitch and shake of Lily's hands every now and then. "Oh it's nothing. I just had a weird dream is all." Lily replied as Leida just shrugged and they entered the Great Hall.  
  
Lily noticed that everyone seemed to still be acknowledging the owl incident from earlier. Well all except the Slytherins that is. Lily just rolled her eyes and sat down next to Leida. Lily looked up to see the face of April Mills. Lily suddenly remembered that she had wanted to get to know this April Mills later but at the smell of fresh food Lily decided to put it off until later.  
  
Lily had finished her meal but decided to wait on Leida who was going back for seconds. Lily turned around in her seat and stretched out her arms. It'd been about fifteen minutes before Lily realized that Leida was doing more talking with Remus than eating.  
  
"Say Leida, I'm gonna go ahead and head back to our dorm okay?" Leida just gave her a simple okay and a wave as Lily headed out into the hallway. Lily was lost in thought about that strange dream when she bumped into something, or rather someone.  
  
She looked up to see that she had bumped into James Potter who was standing in front of Severus Snape right in the middle of what almost seemed like a glaring contest. Lily just mumbled a quiet sorry and rushed past them up the stairs.  
  
Once she was finally safe and sound in her dormitory Lily once again sat down on her bed. She once again felt her eyes grow heavy but quickly snapped herself out of it. 'I wonder what was up with Snape and Potter?' Lily thought. 'They looked almost as if they were ready to kill each other.'  
  
Lily hopped up off of her bed and went to her trunk to pull out some night clothes. Her robes had been nice enough but after a while anyone would be ready for some more comfortable clothes.  
  
Lily changed into a pair of yellow shorts and a dark blue top as she hopped back onto her bed and automatically shot under the covers. She tried to fight it but she couldn't resist the pillows were soft the covers were warm and the mattress was quite comfortable. Lily once again slipped off into a sleep. Again Lily saw green torches lit at her sides in a dim lit room and she could see something being held for her to feel. She remembered what had happened before and knew what she needed to do.  
  
Lily reached out straight in front of her failing to feel anything. She then remembered to feel with trust. She relaxed and tried not to think too much about whatever may lie at the tip of her fingers.  
  
She once again reached out and felt. She kept searching and moving but still she found nothing. Lily sighed and let her hand fall limply at her side that's when she felt it.  
  
She now saw that there seemed to be a table of sorts just behind her. She let her hand wander along the wood until she felt something small and square sitting on top of the table. She felt up the side of this small box and felt the smooth edges and glossed finish. That's when she felt a crease.  
  
It had some sort of top that she could open. Lily could feel her heart beating faster and tried to clam down but it was no use. She could now hear the beating in her ears she reached for the box and grabbed the lid. She was ready to open it, but suddenly it was gone.  
  
Lily spun around 'What happened? I was just about to open that!' She thought when she once again heard the soft toned and strong voice speak again. 'Oh it can't be opened here. You'll have to open it there'. 'There? But where's there?' 'That is your job to find out.' the voice said in a wisp.  
  
Suddenly, as if planned, as the wisp of the voice faded the flames rose high. They cracked and they shimmered, Lily's eyes grew wide when she saw strange markings on the wall. She moved to get a better look when the heat got in her eye. She quickly, in reflex reached up at her face and everything went black. Lily awoke shaking and breathless. She couldn't understand. The dream had not been all that frightening but there was still something about it that made her nerves jump. She couldn't believe she'd had two dreams in a row that had connected like that.  
  
After several unsuccessful minutes of trying to calm down, Lily headed down to the Hospital Wing. She gripped every stair rail tightly as she passed and every step she took was well placed on the floor. She was hurrying but it seemed like an eternity. She stepped inside the hospital wing gripping the edge of the door to hear voices talking. "Albus you know as well as I do that we need to find it. If he gets a hold of that box, why I, well I don't want to think about all the things," a wise voice interrupted, "Poppy I do know and I fully believe that the trust I have in its guard is enough to settle the matter." It was Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey but what were they talking about?  
  
'It's not especially polite to listen in like this,' Lily thought, 'But then again it would be rude to interrupt.' Lily's mouth changed into a grin and she snuggled closer to the edge of the door frame.  
  
"But Albus, you know what we've heard, you know as well as I do that he's been looking for the one who can find it for him!." Pomfrey sounded worried as well as tired. "Yes Poppy I know. I know that even as we speak he may have already found them. However, I feel that we must end this conversation." there was a small smile in his voice as Madame Pomfrey huffed. "I believe you have someone who may be wanting your attention more than I."  
  
Lily backed farther away form the door once again aware of her shaky limbs. "Ah good evening Miss Evans." the Headmaster smiled at her as he passed and Lily let out a breath of relief. She stepped inside and through the doorway to see a young woman bustling about rearranging bottles with different labels and shapes.  
  
The woman turned to face her. "Ah and what is it I can do for you young lady?" she questioned as Lily came closer to her. "Well I, I'm really not sure actually. Oh well, it's just going to seem silly really but," Madame Pomfrey waved her hand stopping her speech, "Nonsense dear now just tell me what the problem seems to be." She smiled at Lily with a look of kindness and boredom. Almost as if she expected Lily had come to her with a head ache.  
  
"Well," Lily shifted her feet which felt week and jittery as she lifted up a shaking hand to Madame Pomfrey whose look of boredom quickly changed to interest. "I, I had this dream and if frightened me I suppose and I can't seem to stop shaking. I had a similar dream earlier today with the same things happening when I woke up."  
  
"Hmm I see." Madame Pomfrey picked up a clip board and wrote a few quick notes before looking back up at Lily again. "Alright now would you please open your mouth for me? That's perfect." she said as Lily obediently opened her mouth. She picked up her wand and pointed it at Lily's mouth and before Lily knew it a stream of gray mist shot from the wand and down through Lily.  
  
She felt it going throughout her body like a lightning bolt before it once again shot back out into the air to form the letters HF SC. She looked back up at Lily and gently told her to wait here and pulled back the curtains before leaving the room.  
  
'I wonder where's she's off to.' Lily thought, but her thoughts were soon answered when she heard the sound of the same two voices she'd been listening to moments ago making their way down the hall.  
  
"She's nervous because of a dream you say?" asked the Headmaster. "Oh yes, and she can't seem to stop twitching and fidgeting. She also has a high temperature although her skin is cold and clammy. It sounds rather unusual and with well, what we were talking about earlier." she let her voice trail off as Professor Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, yes quite right." When they both stepped in the room Lily quickly picked up the pillow behind her and fluffed it pretending as though she'd been occupied with it the whole time.  
  
Her curtains were pulled back to show Madame Pomfrey with a vial of some thin cloudy blue liquid in her hands. "Here dear take this," she instructed, "It's a calming potion it'll help settle your nerves." Lily took the glass with a shaky hand and let the cold liquid slide down her throat. She watched as her hand suddenly relaxed and she felt her muscles loosen their tenseness as she no longer had the need for tapping her foot anymore.  
  
Then a new face appeared. The face of Albus Dumbledore stared back into Lily's green eyes. He smiled a kind smile at her while his eyes twinkled in the light. "Hello again." he said to her. "So I hear that you've had a bit of a startling dream Miss Evans." Lily nodded her head. "Yes sir, but I don't really think it's a big deal. In fact I'm feeling much better and I think I'll just be on my way."  
  
Lily started to get up wanting to make a break for the door. She wasn't sure why but it was like she needed to keep this all secret to keep it all hush, hush. "Now, now Miss Evans, I don't think you're quite done here." He smiled as she sat back down. "Now then, why don't you tell me a little about this dream?" his expression made him seem harmless enough but Lily still wasn't sure so she lied.  
  
"Well sir, I, I really don't remember too much of it. Just a few things like um there were green torches little things I don't really remember what happened." Lily looked down at the floor and pretended to find her shoes very interesting. "Ah well if you're sure Miss Evans," he looked at her with those blue eyes they seemed like they already knew she'd lied, "then I'll just be on my way." Lily nodded, "I'm sure."  
  
"Very well, then have a good day tomorrow Miss Evans." with that he walked away leaving Lily wondering why he'd been so interested. Lily was about to leave before Madame Pomfrey called out to her. "Oh, no you don't young lady." she said with a smile. "I haven't cleared you to leave yet. I think you should stay the night just so you can be watched over a little bit." Lily nodded once again and again found herself sitting back down.  
  
'Now Pomfrey's being weird about all this, I wonder what's up.' Lily thought to herself. Madame Pomfrey came back over to her with what looked like some pajamas and told Lily that she could get dressed in them. Lily drew back the curtains and had just pulled off her shirt when she heard Professor McGonagall's voice drifting towards the hallway.  
  
"Honestly! The both of you really! I can't believe this! And you! Just wait until your head of house hears about this! And to think he was bragging about you yesterday! And you! I expected better from you! Imagine what your parents would think!" It was very evident that she was angry. Lily poked her head out from behind the curtains pulling the front around her.  
  
She saw her Professor coming down the hall dragging with her two boys. Lily wasn't sure who one of them was but even from as far away as she was she recognized the messy hair of James Potter. Lily's eyes grew wide when they came closer. James looked up and smiled at her she jumped and hid back behind her curtains realizing that she still needed to get dressed.  
  
Lily threw on the night gown and laid down on her bed. She reached over and pulled back the curtains just enough for her to see out but not enough to be noticed. Madame Pomfrey rushed over to her Head of House. "Well, well, well, and what do we have here Professor?" Professor McGonagall shoved the two boys onto separate beds. "These you were out in the hall hexing each other! They both just need a little minding before I send Mr. Snape off to his head of house, and before I deal with Mr. Potter myself!"  
  
Lily tried hard not to laugh. They both looked like they wanted to tear each other apart, but as they both knew; they weren't even close to a magical level of attacks to do that. As Madame Pomfrey mended the two boys and muttered about something that had to do with first years, Lily rolled over in her bed and drifted off to sleep.  
  
Whatever games her subconscious mind was playing with her, it apparently didn't want anyone else to join in. She slept through the night without a single dream. Not one that she could remember!  
  
She awoke the next morning with a yelp. She'd woken up to Leida's face practically an inch away from hers. "Well hey there sleepy head! Rise and shine!" she smiled at Lily as she helped her get dressed. They went down to breakfast together and Leida didn't say a single word to Lily about being in the Hospital Wing. Lily was actually thankful for this; she hadn't exactly wanted the whole school knowing that she'd gone to the Wing over a nightmare.  
  
Lily was laughing at a joke that Leida had just made about the Slytherin Quidditch team when someone caught her eye. It was Potter there he was and Lily giggled madly as she remembered the night before. She quickly whispered what she'd seen, and heard to Leida.  
  
"You mean Potter and Snape got in a fight already?!" Leida seemed surprised. "Yeah," I nodded. "Wow," she laughed a bit, "even I couldn't manage to get into trouble within the first weeks here!" We both laughed it off and rushed off to class.  
  
About a week went by and Lily thought it was curious that nothing too eventful had happened, when suddenly she was told they were to have their first flying lesson tomorrow, The whole of Gryffindor house was buzzing like mad! They were not only to be flying for, some of them, the first time, but they would be learning with the Slytherins.  
  
"Leida....sometimes I wonder if they just want our houses to kill each other off," Lily said as Leida laughed. "I know what you mean. They're always pairing us up with them. It's like they want a mass murder or something!" They both laughed and headed upstairs to do some homework and unwind for the day.  
  
Lily happily put the final period at the end of her sentence as she finished up a paper on 'How and why Levitation Charms could be, and are useful'. Just then Leida came to sit beside her.  
  
"Hey, what are you working on?" she looked at Lily's essay curiously. "Oh just that paper Flitwick assigned us," she nodded. "That's cool. So what do you think about tomorrow?" she looked at Lily as if she expected an immediate answer. "What are you asking me exactly?" Leida rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. "I mean, how do you think you're going to do?" Lily looked down at her paper. She wasn't sure. They only time she'd ever flown anywhere she'd been on an airplane.  
  
"I dunno, I hope I do ok, but I'll probably be the first to fall flat on the turf!" The two girls laughed as they headed upstairs to their dorms to get ready for bed. As Lily was changing into her pajamas she looked out the window. She was happy to have gotten her bed by right next to it. That's when she felt a chill go down her spine and all she could concentrate her sight on was a solitary hill just below a mountain.  
  
Lily shook her head which diverted her attention. Her back chilled again and she quickly dove under her bed. She'd managed to snag a few bottles of dreamless sleep potions from out of the classroom. Those chills reminded her of the strange shaky dreams which she hadn't had in at least a week. She wasn't about to let herself have them again.  
  
Lily awoke the next morning completely rested though she felt like she'd been asleep for just five minutes. It had something to do with taking the dreamless sleep potions, and so she paid it no mind.  
  
Lily stretched as she threw on her school uniform. "Boo!" Leida said turning around the corner of Lily's bed. Lily laughed and taking one look at her friend flicked a hair tie at her. She then proceeded to run downstairs to escape the wrath of Leida's own hair ties.  
  
That's when Lily remembered. 'Holy, goodness! We have our first fly today!' Lily rushed downstairs into the breakfast hall and started eating toast and drinking pumpkin juice. She could hardly wait to fly for the first time. Just the thought of flying on broomstick like the witches from her muggle fairytales, made her squeal with the jitters.  
  
"Hey there, Lily! All ready for the big fly today?" Lily looked up to see someone she hardly ever talked to but knew well enough. Sirius Black took one step and sat down beside her. "Oh yeah, I cant wait to try it out. How do you think you'll do? Sirius? Sirius?" he seemed to be signaling to someone and giving them the thumbs up. Lily was confused at first but soon found out first hand what he was doing.  
  
Lily shrieked out of surprise when she felt herself being lifted off of her chair and into the air. She turned around above the table to see James Potter had levitated her and then she realized. Sirius Black had been nothing but a distraction. Lily was madder than a hornet whens he was gently placed back into her seat. She was about to chase after Potter and show him a thing or two about magic when she saw that everyone was leaving for classes.  
  
"I'll get you back sooner or later Potter, you mark my words!" the two boys just took off laughing as Lily gathered things together and rushed out onto the Quidditch Pitch.  
  
A/N: I KNOW I KNOW!!!!!!! It's been forever!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAY too long, but hey! 8th grade turned out to be more of a challenge with High School Credit classes than I thought. So, anywho, now that I'm out of school for the summer (YAYNESS!!!!!) I'll be updating like crazy until the last week in July. Then things will slow down for a little while and then we'll see, but I dunno. Well I'm gonna stop hear so I can hurry up and get this posted to you guys! Laterz LEP 


	7. The Smoking Village

Disclaimer: Alrighty then! I would like to say that book 6 will be coming out soon and I can say that because I AM JK Rowling and I'm one of the richest women in all of England! ::gets hit in the head by a random flying sock:: lol yep you guessed it that's all a lie which is why this is here to say that anything mentioned in one of the HP books or copywrited by Warner Bros. or Scholastic etc etc is in fact copywrited and not mine....there I did it...happy?? Lol  
  
Chapter 7- The Smoking Village  
  
Lily stood standing next to Leida excitedly waiting for flight. When she looked over at her best friend to tell her about the prank that Black and Potter had pulled on her, she noticed Leida didn't look as ready and willing to fly.  
  
"Hey, Leida. What's going on? I mean, you seem nervous." Leida looked at Lily and smiled weakly.  
  
"Well it's just, I'm not too sure about flying in front of everybody. I mean, I've flown before, but that was in my backyard with my parents keeping careful watch. Here, who knows what could happen?!" she stopped to take a breath. "Plus, if we end up making fools of ourselves everybody will be talking about it and then we'll never hear the end of it."  
  
Lily looked at her friend in disbelief. There was Leida, all worried and bent out of shape over her first time flying in front of everybody, when she was usually this hyper, 'I don't' care what anyone thinks' type of girl.  
  
She thought about what Leida had said, and she was right. It was bad enough that everyone would be talking if they messed up, but with Potter and his gang around, the whole school would know if you fell on your face. Lily was suddenly a little jittery herself when, a younger lady with short, choppy, silver hair, and cat-like, yellow eyes approached the shaky first years.  
  
"Good morning class, I am Madame Hooch, your flying instructor. Now first," she paused and stopped to look at Potter and Snape who one at a time seemed to be giving each other death glares along with mouthing words that some may have called obscene. She started again, "First I would like for Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape to please discontinue their distractions!" Both of the boys' heads turned to face her. Potter seemed to hang his head a bit, as if he was actually disappointed with himself, while Snape just rolled his eyes and looked away.  
  
Lily was wondering what had happened between those two the other night to make them hate each other so when she heard Madame Hooch giving instruction. "Now I want all of you to place your hands over the broom, like so, and say up!" the broom flew into her grasp as several students gasped.  
  
"Up, up, up!" Leida shouted at her broom but it didn't even move. "Damn it I said UP!" and with that her broom flew up into the air and came crashing down on her head. Lily tried not to giggle at her friend. She noticed that Potter and Black, as well as one or two other people already had their brooms.  
  
"Up!" Lily said. Her broom floated for a second and then plopped back down, "UP!" she yelled and her broom flew into her hand with force enough to have knocked her over, but she held her ground.  
  
"Alright, alright that's enough!" Madame Hooch said to the students still struggling. "Now then, at the count of three when I blow this whistle, I want you all to mount your brooms, kick hard off of the ground, fly for a bit, and then touch back down by leaning forward gently. Alright ready then?" Several students looked as though they most certainly were not ready, and would be damned if you'd see them flying around on some piece of wood, but Hooch started the count off anyway.  
  
"One," Lily looked over at Leida, she was shaking. "Two," Lily gripped her broom tighter has she felt her hands starting to sweat with nerves. "Three!" and with that she blew the whistle and they were off. To Lily's surprise it was really quite easy, even Leida who had been so nervous before, was already zooming around with a smile. There were others, however, whom looked as though they found this all quite difficult indeed.  
  
Of course Potter and Black were zooming around all over the place, totally and completely out of control, and Remus had managed to fly himself high enough to be away from their commotion, but there were some still very close to the ground. Lily looked to see that there were a few people who hadn't mounted yet, and Snape was one of them.  
  
That girl, that April Mills girl, she was talking to him as if she knew him. It looked like she was trying to convince him to get into the air, but he wouldn't budge. That's when Lily saw the upcoming trouble start to brew. Apparently Potter had also noticed Snape's inactivity in flying. He motioned for Sirius to come near him as he pointed at the situation.  
  
He started whispering things to Black, and while Lily couldn't hear them, they must have been mischievous because it was certainly bringing a smile to Sirius' face. The two nodded at each other and flew over to where Snape was still firmly planted on the ground. It looked to Lily like they were just talking to him so she didn't really pay mind, after all, why waste the day.  
  
It was nice outside. It was still warm from summer and there was a light, but still very present, breeze in the air. Lily could feel her black uniform heating up from the sun's focus. Everything was still in its prime of growth, except for the beauty sprouting from the color of the trees. There were orange and yellow hues, some of the trees were mixed with dabbles of red. They seemed a glow, or on fire even.  
  
Lily's head jerked away from the view when she heard laughing. Apparently Sirius and James had convinced Snape to get on his broom and they'd jinxed it. It was bucking everywhere and people were laughing. April Mills even chuckled a little at him, when it was she who'd been so nice to him earlier.  
  
Lily flew slowly towards the ground and, other than the fact that she did stub her toe getting off of her broom, she actually touched down rather nicely. Sure enough there was Potter and Black laughing their heads off as well as several others.  
  
Lily decided to take her opportunity. She pulled out her wand and quickly remembered a little spell Anton had taught her. She aimed it carefully at James, and quicker than a cat after a house mouse, he slipped off his broomstick and fell face first into the dirt. Now everyone's attention was turned to him and all of them, including Black, were laughing.  
  
"James, mate, you should have seen yourself!" Sirius said laughing as he helped his friend up. James just bitterly shoved him away and turned his attention towards Snape again.  
  
"It was him I just know it! He had something to do with that! I don't know how, but he did!" James shouted pointing his finger at Severus. Snape looked at him with disgust as he shook his hair into his face.  
  
"I had absolutely nothing to do with it Potter, you're simply a clumsy oaf, and a bigheaded prick, and that broomstick seems to know it," and with that he walked off away from everyone, April Mills following close behind.  
  
Their flying class had surprisingly taken up half their usual schedule and, since there was no sense in them going to the last ten minutes of their next class, they all went into the Great Hall for an early lunch. Lily listened to Leida as they made their way to Gryffindor table.  
  
"And did you see me Lily?! Boy was I ever flying today! That was loads of fun! But, how'd you think of it Lils?" Lily just shrugged.  
  
"It was fun I guess." Lily was about to comment more when she saw a familiar face. "Anton!" she rushed over to sit next to him.  
  
"Hey, kiddo! What are you doing in here?" he asked her as he patted her on the head. Lily just smiled as she loaded her plate up with some of her favorite dishes.  
  
"Oh we just got done with our first flying, but what about you?!" she looked at him curiously. She saw he had a book in front of him on the table entitled, "A Pro's guide to Playing Pranks" Lily silently giggled at this, but looked up as he started to speak.  
  
"Ah, who me? I just snuck out early, McGonagall didn't really care. We were just taking a review quiz, and I'd gotten done with that ages ago." He smiled at her and started filling up his own plate with various foods on the table. "So how was your first day flying?" he asked with his mouth half full of a piece of chicken.  
  
Lily laughed a little, "Good I guess, except for Potter playing his stupid pranks and all. I dunno what's gotten into him, I mean he used to be so nice now it's like he's pulling a prank on everyone and their dog!" Anton nodded knowingly.  
  
"Probably the fact of popularity getting to his head. Either that or he thinks he needs to prove something. Ah, who knows?" Lily nodded as Anton went back to reading his book and eating his lunch. Students started filling the Great Hall looking more than ready for a bite to eat.  
  
"Darren, mate! Where've ya been?" Anton's attention was now turned to his best friend, who had just entered the hall and sat down on his other side. Darren heaved a sigh and started filling up his plate with massive amounts of food. "Ah, McGonagall didn't want me leaving after you," he chuckled a bit, "She figured we'd be causing trouble of some kind," he smiled at his friend knowingly.  
  
Anton laughed, "Well now, why would she think we'd go off and do a thing like that?" he'd said that implying the up most sarcasm. "And good lord man! You got a horse to feed in that gullet of yours?" Anton was referring to the amount of food on his friend's plate, whom just shrugged in return, and began eating.  
  
Lily looked around to see if she could find Leida and when she did she giggled a bit. She was talking to Remus again and it looked as though he was helping her with a subject, one of which Lily knew Leida in fact, didn't need help on. Lily looked to the clock and saw that she only had a few more minutes to finish her lunch before class and began devouring her plate.  
  
Lily was making her way to her next class, which was Double Potions. Lily rolled her eyes a bit. This meant another class with Snape. She didn't think he was really all that bad, but he did try her patience. She took her, now assigned, seat next to him and he was once again engrossed in a book. Lily tried to lean over to see what the title was, but he seemed convinced that her attempts to try and find out would fail.  
  
"Good afternoon," he said curtly. Lily was a bit taken aback by his sudden greeting. Usually she had to pry a hello out of him, but she couldn't say that she wasn't pleased.  
  
"Hi," she replied to him as she started getting her books and things out of her bag. "Listen, I'm sorry about Potter and them being jerks earlier, I mean they're stupid ya know?" he just rolled his eyes and nodded, which was the basic response she'd expected, but to her surprise he spoke.  
  
"You didn't have to do that you know? I mean hit Potter with that spell." Lily was a bit shocked. She felt a little guilty now because since James thought Snape had done it; it seemed to him reason enough to get Severus back.  
  
"Yeah, sorry about that. I mean I should have spoken up or something. I was getting him back for something he did to me earlier." Snape turned and looked at her.  
  
"He messes with you?" he looked at Lily questionably as if he was shocked that Potter actually gave up some pranks to people other than himself.  
  
"Well he's never really pulled pranks before but he did earlier today, and well I didn't like it all that much," she said in a bit of a huff. He nodded and went back to his book. Lily finished organizing her things on her desk so that everything was there and accessible, but in a way so that she had plenty of room to take notes.  
  
Severus looked over at what she was doing and cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you always do that?" he asked referring to her organization preferences. Lily sighed a bit. Why did he always have to question everything?  
  
"Because I like things to be this way, so that I have everything on here that I need, and I can still write," he shook his head and laughed at her slightly. "What?!" she questioned. Why was he laughing at her? She didn't really find anything funny.  
  
"Nothing it's just, well...we're doing the actual potion today, meaning you should set up your cauldron and things," he smiled as her cheeks slightly changed to a soft pink hue. She gave a small chuckle back as though to try and play off her mistake, but her action to distinctly avoid eye contact with him gave her away.  
  
Lily started setting up her cauldron and things and in no more than two minutes time their professor walked into the room. "Right then, now today class we'll be doing a simple potion. If all of you would please set up you things we may begin." Their Professor went on to tell them exactly how to make their potion. And then they all started out to try and do their best. Lily was cutting up her herbs the best she could, but was jealous of Severus' perfectly thin slices. She kept looking over at what he was doing as to double check her own actions. For the most part she would have said she was doing well until she looked over at him while she was chopping something.  
  
"Ah!" she yelped as the sharp blade met her finger. Snape looked over to see what she had done, and was surprisingly quick to respond.  
  
"Here," he handed her a ripped, but clean, piece of cloth and slipped it around her finger. He then did a spell of some kind to shrink it so that I fit snuggly. Lily looked at him with a kind smile and wide eyes.  
  
"Thanks," she said a little taken aback. He just nodded.  
  
"Well you are working with ingredients, and you wouldn't want some of them getting into your system...plus, you might get blood in your potion," Lily nodded and continued to work, this time making sure to pay closer attention to what she was doing.  
  
By the time class was over Lily was exhausted. "So how do you think you did on your potion Lil?" Leida questioned as the two girls made their way to dinner.  
  
"Oh I'd say I did alright, I guess, but I probably would have been lost if I wasn't sitting next to Severus." Leida seemed a bit surprised at her for some reason and looked away briefly. "What? Leida, what? Did I say something?"  
  
Leida turned to look at her, "Well, it's just, you called him by his first name."  
  
"Yeah, so....?" Lily was thoroughly confused, why the fuss over something like that?  
  
"Oh, I dunno.....it just seems like you may be getting a little...too acquainted with him?" she gave Lily a look that seemed as if she'd thought Lily'd lost it.  
  
"So? Why's that such a big deal?! He's actually, well, he can be nice... when he wants to be." Leida just shook her head and looked back up at Lily.  
  
"Lily, hun, his family's got a history of dealing with dark magic, and well...you just shouldn't be seen hanging around him. People might start to think that you and he are starting a cult or something." Lily felt her face grow hot as she was now walking a bit more briskly.  
  
Again with all this history and family business, what did that matter? Lily just couldn't understand.  
  
And I wouldn't understand for quite a while longer. No one really wanted to tell me how the wizarding world was just as discriminative as the muggle world. No one wanted to tell me, because those that knew, and were not muggle borns, were practically ashamed.  
  
I've had to learn to ignore these silly unwritten rules about the houses and the different 'types of blood' there are several things I've done now, as I look back, that if I had been a pure blood, I would not have attempted, nor trusted.  
  
Trust, yes, that is an interesting word. You trust your family, but not in the same way that you trust your friends, or those whom you're in love with. And along with trust goes truth. Uncovering the truth to things, ha! I still don't know the truth to everything, and with the turns our world is taking, I fear I may never get the chance to learn it all.  
  
I walk back into the room from which I had woken. He's lying there still, he doesn't look well, never does now a days. I sit back down on the firm mattress which held my frame the night previous. It was comfortable, but that was all in the company it kept.  
  
The posts of it were tall, elaborate, and the wood was, of course, dark. Dark, the very word brought no single memory, but thousands. But why classify anything whether it be man or beast as having dark qualities. One should not classify in my opinion, if something is truly evil, there will be no need to classify it as such. I had difficulties finding someone who understood this in my younger years, and still do.  
  
However, there was one man. One man, who seemed to understand precisely what I was saying, and shared many of my morals as he continues to do so now. I owe that man more than just my schooling thus far. I owe him many truths, my life on, most likely, more than one occasion, and one of my dear friends.  
  
He is certainly credited for his accomplishments and achievements, but what he is seldom credited for is his honor and love for this world. He is a noble and trustworthy man, but he is still human as I have come to realize, that many of us are. Another week or three passes. The air outside is now crisp on this Saturday morning and Lily watches in amazement at how many people have turned out to watch the first Quidditch match of the year, Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff. "Man, I hope Slytherin doesn't pound them too hard," Lily over heard Sirius saying to James. James seemed to make a noise of disgust.  
  
"Filthy, low down disgusting scum, if they'd actually play a straight game without their dirty tricks, Hufflepuff might have actually stood a chance."  
  
"Yeah and Gryffindor would do well to go up against Hufflepuff first rather than those Snakes. Although, you know James, I wouldn't cut the Badgers short this year. You seen the new keeper they got to replace Hetchler?" James nodded.  
  
"He's certainly a beast that one, but have you seen Slytherin's beaters mate? Monsters if I ever saw 'em." The two boys continued on in conversation like this while Lily and Leida searched for a few good seats.  
  
Lily was fairly disappointed when Leida decided to sit next to Remus and talk rather than actually get good seats, but then she spotted Anton and Darren, with some of the best seats in the place! She looked over their way and it was Darren who noticed her and motioned for her to join them.  
  
Lily smiled as she headed over to them, having to say a few, "Excuse me"s and "Sorry"s along the way. "Hey there sport!" he said to her as she finally managed to snug herself between the two of them. "All set for your first big game?!" Lily nodded excessively to show that she couldn't wait for it to start.  
  
"Darren, who the bloody hell are you talking to?!" Anton asked until he turned around. "Lily Billy! When'd you sneak over here?!" he asked reaching to mess up her hair, which she dodged.  
  
Darren chuckled, "She'd make a fair seeker that one" he said nodding at Lily. Anton nodded, and then shook his head.  
  
"Nah! Can't you see it mate, she'd be a keeper she would" he smirked as Darren just rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well as we both know that position is already fill by yours truly." Anton laughed and bent down to Lily's ear.  
  
"That's exactly why we need a new one" he whispered and Lily was sent into a fit of giggles which left Darren asking the both of them, for the next ten minutes, what Anton had said.  
  
The three of them were arguing on whether Lily should play Quidditch or not. The two boys were mostly arguing over what position, it was Lily who wasn't sure about playing. But as soon as someone shouted, "Look it's starting!" the argument was silenced, for now.  
  
The Hufflepuff team zoomed around the field and cheers erupted throughout the stadium from everywhere except Slytherin. Slytherin did their best at cat calls and boos and, surprisingly, they were still heard. When the Slytherin team shot onto the field an opposite reaction occurred.  
  
Everyone in the stadium booed at their arrival, Slytherin of course being the exception to this, cheered for their team, but this time, their calls and cries of support were drowned out.  
  
Lily watched as the two team captains flew out to meet each other and shake hands. Madame Hooch held a fairly large red ball in her hands as the teams gathered to their starting positions.  
  
"That there's the quaffle Lily," Darren said to her pointing at the ball in Madame Hooch's hands. Lily nodded when the announcer came over the speaker with news that the snitch had been released.  
  
Lily looked around and saw something golden zooming around surprisingly close to the teacher's section. "Is that the snitch?" she asked pointing in the direction where she'd seen the flutter. Anton squinted to where she had pointed.  
  
"Is what the snitch?"  
  
"That!" Lily said pointing with more energy this time. Darren laughed at the two of them while trying to find it himself.  
  
"Oh I see it! Yeah that's the snitch alright. Good eye there sport. See Anton, what'd I tell you? She'll be a seeker this one will!" Anton who seemed to still be looking took a while to respond.  
  
"Oh shut up you! The game's started!" Lily and Darren both laughed at his obvious attempt at avoiding Darren's comment as they focused their attention to the entire field. Lily learned a lot about the game just by following what the announcer, Emily Philips, said and matching it with what went on at the field.  
  
"And it's Simpson in possession with the quaffle she's almost there, looks like a goal! And oh! Her shot is blocked by the Slytherin keeper. Quite a shame that was, better luck next time Kate!" One of the Slytherin players had the quaffle now and was headed straight for the Hufflepuff goals.  
  
"And it's Santacks with the quaffle, oh no! Looks like it's gonna be a goal, but I'd watch out for Johns! His percentage rate of goals stopped is at a high of 82! And it's Santacks to Sturgus and back to Santacks and OUCH!" the crowd stopped to clap as well as make noises of pain.  
  
"Wow that looks like it hurt. Nice hit at the bludger by Williams of Hufflepuff to stop the scoring action. Gee, I sure wouldn't want to make you mad while you have that bat Charlie!" the crowd gave a little chuckle. Emily was doing great at commentating and everyone seemed to really enjoy the game.  
  
Twenty minutes later and the score was 80 to 30 in Slytherin's favor. Everyone in Gryffindor's stands was cheering for Hufflepuff to get in there and score, but the Slytherin beaters, as well as their keeper were making things difficult.  
  
"And the score still stands at 80 to 30 Slytherin's game. Hufflepuff really needs to get in some scoring here and HELLO! What's this?!" the crowd gasped at the sight of a player in bright yellow robes diving straight at the ground at what Lily had seen only seconds before hand. "Evly's seen the snitch! Rodger Evly has spotted the snitch! Uh oh! It looks like Kirstine Davies has caught on and is tailing after him. Oh it's gonna be close and wait! Has he? HE HAS! EVLY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!!!! GAME OVER! THAT'S IT FOLKS! HUFFLEPUFF WINS!!!!!" the crowd erupted with cheers as the Slytherins threw fits of rage.  
  
Darren and Anton high-fived each other while Lily spun around in the excitement! "Yes! It'll be us verses Hufflepuff first this year, and that'll put us off to a good start!" Anton was pleased with the Victory.  
  
"Yeah! Man am I glad I'll be blocking goals from Hufflepuff's chasers first this year!" Darren said as the three of them made their way into the Gryffindor common room. They entered the common room to see everyone running around like crazy.  
  
"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" Anton shouted as several people ran into their friend's arms. A boy who looked to be about Anton's age ran over to them.  
  
"It's Hogsmead! There was an attack! Deatheaters came into the Three Broomsticks! Half the town's on fire!" Lily was slightly confused at what Hogsmead was, but the fact that there had been an attack on a village was enough for her to gasp.  
  
Darren stepped forward and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Rob, you aren't yanking our chains about this are you? I mean, are you serious? An attack in Hogsmead?"  
  
Rob shook his head, "No way! I'm dead serious! Go look out the window if you want, you can see the smoke!" Darren and Anton both rushed over to the windows and stepped back at the sight of a small town in flames.  
  
Anton turned to face Rob. "Is there any particular reason why? I mean has anyone heard why they attacked?"  
  
This time it was Remus who spoke up, "They, they were looking for something. That's what I heard McGonagall saying to Nightwar anyway." Several people gasped at hearing this and Lily couldn't help but wonder what they would be after that was so important that they would attack a town.  
  
Anton slammed his fist against a near by table and Lily approached him cautiously. "Damn it all to hell!! Why the bloody hell do they do this?! This, of course, means they'll ban trips from Hogsmead this year. What the hell are they after?" Lily moved closer to him and turn away from the window. She couldn't bear to stand looking at the, still rising, smoke coming from Hogsmead.  
  
"Whatever they're after it can't be far off," Darren said. "If it was then there's no way they would have attacked Hogsmead. I mean, by doing that they know that the Ministry'll be looking around for them non stop. They wouldn't have given up their location so easily if they weren't sure they were actually going to find it." Anton nodded and turned around to see Lily standing in front of him looking distraught and worried.  
  
Anton sighed and put his arm around her. "Well, as long as we're at Hogwarts we're fine. I just hope that someone finds whatever they're looking for before they do." Darren and Rob nodded before heading upstairs to their dorms.  
  
"Anton, do you think that if they thought what they were looking for was at Hogwarts....do you think they would attack here?" Lily looked up at her oldest friend hoping to get a straight answer, but seeing his frustration she knew that he would've given her one, if only he had one to give.  
  
"I don't know Lily, honestly. I know one thing's for certain though. As long as we're here inside this castle, we're safe. Even if they do try to attack, which if they do think whatever they're looking for is here they may do so, we'll be safe. They won't succeed at getting close enough to anyone to put them in danger." Lily nodded and took a deep breath as she pulled herself into his embrace.  
  
"Now then, I suggest that you head up to bed. Don't worry nothing's going to happen tonight, that's definite, and the entire castle's in lock down I'm sure. There's nothing to worry about, so go on ahead upstairs kay?" Lily nodded and after receiving a pat on the head made her way upstairs.  
  
A/N: well there ya have it! That's chapter 7 complete with a flash to the future an attack and tons of excitement. I hope you guys like it. So....Read and Review you've read so...you know what to do now   
  
Laterz  
  
LEP 


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